Stories by Steve Aya
A Federal High Court in Lagos has remanded a 65-year-old woman, Nwakuba Helen Chinyere, in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) over alleged conspiracy, child trafficking and child laundering offences. Justice Friday Ogazi ordered her remand, after she pleaded not guilty to a four-count charge filed against her by the Zone 2 Command of the Nigerian Police, Onikan, Lagos. The court subsequently adjourned the matter until August 19, 2026, for hearing of her bail application.
The prosecution, led by Mr Eliot Ijie, told the court that Chinyere and others allegedly obtained, possessed and trafficked a one-year-old boy sometime in 2024. According to the Prosecutor, the child was allegedly taken from Lagos and moved to Imo State, where the Defendant was accused of receiving or harbouring the boy, despite allegedly knowing that he had been stolen or unlawfully obtained.
Ijie informed the court that the alleged offences contravened provisions of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, the Criminal Code Act and the Child Rights Act. The Prosecutor urged the court to remand the Defendant pending trial, and requested a date for the commencement of proceedings.
The defendant, who informed the court that her lawyer was unavailable due to a bereavement, consented to having the charges read to her. She, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts, denying the allegations against her. Following her plea, Justice Ogazi ordered that she be kept in NCoS custody pending the determination of her bail application.
The case followed an earlier proceeding before a Lagos Chief Magistrate’s Family Court, where Chinyere and six others were initially charged in February 2025 over alleged conspiracy, human trafficking and child laundering involving five children aged between one and three years. She was initially removed from the charge following an earlier legal advice by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP). THYE