May 02, (THEWILL) – An 80-year-old woman, Madam Bassey Ekong, has appealed to the Akwa Ibom State Government, public spirited individuals and non-governmental organisations, to assist her in catering for her two grandsons, who she rescued from being sold to ritualists by her son and the wife.
The two children; Gideon and Kingsley Edet, now six and seven years old respectively, are pupils of St. George’s Primary School, Aka Ofot in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State and cannot afford uniforms and other learning requirements, even as they lack general care because the grandmother, who hitherto took care of them is stricken with age and vision impaired.
Narrating their ordeal to THEWILL correspondent in Uyo at the weekend, the old woman, who wept profusely said she rescued the two children at ages three months and one year respectively, after their parents allegedly completed negotiation to sell them for N50,000 and N20,000 to suspected ritualists, blaming poverty for their evil plan.
The octogenarian, who hails from Mbiokporo, in the Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of the state, while narrating the incident, said she intervened by threatening to curse the mother of the kids and to report the matter to the police.
She explained that when their mother, a housewife, gave birth to them in quick succession, their father was jobless.
She said a friend of their mother later linked the family to suspected ritualists, who offered to buy the two children off them and they readily accepted the deal.
“They conspired to sell the children, but when they told me, I cursed them and vowed to report the matter to the police. My granddaughter who was staying with me then trailed them and succeeded in bringing the two babies back to me. And they both disappeared till today.
“I suffered to raise the children by engaging in menial jobs and weeding people’s farm for meagre wages, just to keep the kids, but now I am too old to do that. I was even still trying until last year when my eye problem started. I cannot see clearly anymore”, she narrated amid sobs in vernacular.
The grandmother, now blind, said she could not fend for the children anymore as they hardly eat a square meal in a day.
“I cry for these children each day they leave for school without food and no writing materials in class. Now, I can’t help them. Their parents ran away as they failed in their plot to sell them.
“I want the government to help take over their education. I may not be alive for long, but my soul will rest if I know that these children are cared for before I leave them”, madam Bassey Ekong pleaded.
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