Recently Bereaved Widow Arrested by NAPTIP Over In-laws’ Allegations Her Child Isn’t Hers

A 42-year-old widow, Kate Ekatu, whose in-laws accused of not being the biological mother of her child has reportedly been rearrested by officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Delta State.

According to Punch Kate has accused her in-laws of simply persecuting her in order to take over her late husband’s properties. Her husband, Godfrey, had died in October 2015, and yet to be buried.

She also accused one of the brothers of her late husband, Chief Sam Ekatu, of demanding her husband’s ATM cards, which she refused to hand over, forcing him to block the deceased’s accounts.

Her lawyer, Mr. Chukwuma Ebu, explained that after Kate’s in-laws made another report against her at the office of NAPTIP in the state, Kate was rearrested on charges of child trafficking.

Ebu said,

“She was detained for about two days and released on bail. I am not telling the police or NAPTIP not to conduct their investigation. But to arrest a widow, whose husband is still lying in the mortuary and detained for five days during the Christmas period when everybody is celebrating is far from being fair.

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If the police wanted to conduct their investigation, they did not need to detain her and make her suffer like that. Just because the elder brother of my client’s late husband made a report, they took such steps.

Now, NAPTIP has come and arrested the woman on the same matter. If at the end of the day, their investigation reveals that the woman is innocent, who compensates her for this kind of treatment?”