Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Calabar sentenced Esther and Eyo Udo to 15 years in prison each on Thursday for child trafficking. The couple faced a four-count charge brought by the Cross River Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). They were convicted of buying and selling babies for exploitation. The prosecution presented evidence that the pair engaged in the illegal trade, which falls under Nigeria's laws prohibiting human trafficking. Sentencing followed conviction, with no fine option offered.
A 15-year sentence for baby trafficking sounds severe until you consider how rarely such convictions happen. Esther and Eyo Udo are now named and punished, but their case exposes how commonplace baby markets have become in some corners of Nigeria. If the justice system took child trafficking as seriously as financial crimes, court dockets would be fuller and prison terms more frequent. This verdict is an outlier, not a turning point.
