Okereke with the drum containing the dismembered body of late Ogbonnaya

However, the bond the couple shared helped solve the mystery, recounts Goodness, the mother of seven-month-old Precious (their baby, who would never know her father, slain at the prime age of 31).

Basil was a businessman selling foodstuff at Shop 23 Milaco Plaza along Ago Palace Way in Okota, Lagos. On March 1, he had gone to meet with business associates at Iddo and Daleko respectively, Goodndess recalls. She had called her husband’s telephone number to know if he was on his way home about 6pm but his phone was switched off. Her husband later called back at 6.43pm to inform her that he was at Okafor’s place.

“I felt he was probably discussing with him and didn’t want to be disturbed. By 10pm, his phones were still switched off and he wasn’t back. We kept awake till about 2am when I asked one of the boys working for him to go and lock the door. I had hoped he slept over there and that he would call me first thing in the morning. They are friends. They had known each other before he married me. In fact, my husband helped him to secure the accommodation he lives in at No. 17 Omiyale Street, Ejigbo, where he killed him.”

But alas! the call never came and Goodness had reason to be alarmed. So she called Okafor, who denied seeing Basil or that he slept in his house. “When I didn’t see my husband in the morning and with his phones still switched off, I called Okafor to find out about my husband. But he said he had not seen him; that the last time he did was on February 28. Then he came over to our place. I told him my husband had not returned home, which was unlike him, and that I wanted to check hospitals, and he followed me.”

Searching with the suspect

That day, Goodness and Okafor combed the accident and emergency wards and mortuaries of hospitals, from Isolo to Gbagada and back to Ejigbo till dusk.

“A friend suggested I go back to Ejigbo to search for him since it was the last place I heard from him. By the time we did this it was late, and somehow my spirit was telling me to sleep over at his house. Before then I had told my brothers of the situation. He initially objected to my sleeping in his house. But following persuasion from my elder brother, he agreed, and said he had to come to Ago to pick his sister first, which he did. When we got to his house, he put me in one of the rooms and brought out a pillow from his room for me to use.

Pillowcase clue uncovered by seven-month-old baby

Probably stressed by the events of the day, Goodness’ seven-month-old baby, Precious, wouldn’t sleep and was playfully pulling at the bed sheet. Unknown to her infant mind, she had uncovered a clue that led them to her father’s murderer.

“I put my baby on the bed and she was pulling at the bed sheet. Then she pulled the pillow and I noticed blood stains on the pillowcase, and I became suspicious. So I pulled off the pillowcase and put it in my baby’s pampers.

Bloodstains on the wall

“I couldn’t sleep, so I began praying. Earlier, I had been asked what I wanted to eat but I said nothing. I had no appetite for food but I asked for tea. Not long after I began to purge and had to go to the toilet. There I saw splashes of blood on the wall and I took the picture with my phone. The sister whom I begged to sleep with us in the room was close to me, so she heard the clicking sound from my phone and turned. But I pretended as I came out as if I hadn’t done anything.

“About 5.30am, when I got up to prepare a bath for my baby, I saw my husband’s handkerchief he used the day I last saw him in the wash hand basin. It was stained with blood.”

Like one who had murdered sleep, Okafor also barely slept as he decided to sleep in his sitting room instead of his bedroom. Goodness’ cries and prayers unsettled him such that he came to her door severally to inquire what was wrong. In the morning when Goodness ran out of credit, he offered to go and buy for her while she gave her baby a bath.

“It was when he went out that I sneaked into his bedroom to confirm my suspicion. There I saw blood splattered on the wall. His sister was trying to catch some sleep because of my disturbance in the night. When I saw that, I called my brothers and told them. I also kept the handkerchief with the pillowcase I had seen earlier.

“By the time he came back, my brothers were in the area. So he left the house again to pick them. But my brothers came through another route and I showed them what I had seen.” When Okafor returned, she begged him to take her to Ago Police Station where she had earlier lodged a complaint and was told to wait for 24 hours before declaring him missing. He declined on the pretext that he was tired but later obliged after some persuasion.

Looking for more clues, Goodness asked to put her umbrella and bag in his car boot, which was also splattered with blood. But she pretended as if she saw nothing. “When we got to the station, I said I wanted to make a statement that my husband told me he was in his house the last time he called me. But the policeman in charge of such cases said I would be indicting him and there were penalties for such if my claims were untrue. I replied him that I didn’t mind.”

It would however take some going back and forth and tendering the evidence she had on her before the police took her serious and took Okafor in for questioning. He still denied seeing Basil and said they should take him anywhere, that he was innocent. “It was when I tendered the stained handkerchief and pillowcase that I was allowed to make my statement and a search warrant issued. The DPO instructed that Okafor should be put behind the counter.”

Okafor later confessed that he committed the heinous crime and escorted the policemen to search his house.

‘It’s rat blood on my wall’

“When the policemen got there and saw the blood stain on the wall, he initially said it was a rat that he killed. They later saw his bloodstained mattress, which he had kept outside and the rug. He told them he had drugged my husband before killing him with an axe around midnight (and I remember seeing that axe in the house and had asked him what he was doing with an axe in the city when he was not in the village).

He said he cut him first in the head, which woke him up, and probably a struggle ensued (explaining the blood stains) between them. So he broke his two legs with the axe to demobilise him and finished him off with a cutlass. He claims it was a mistake but because he injured him so much, decided to finish it…”

Though not shedding tears as she recounted the gory details to our reporter, she was filled with anguish as she measured her words, stopping and shaking her head at intervals.

Was she aware that her cousin had any evil antecedent?

“Somehow, I suspected so because of his lifestyle. We would see him for some time and he would disappear again. Because of his lifestyle, my husband had to dissociate himself from him at some point but he kept coming around. I never knew he could be this wicked to kill my husband.”

Contrary to the suspect’s claim that the late Basil was owing him some amount of money, Goodness said rather it was Okafor that was indebted to her husband.

“I’m not aware of any quarrel between them but I remember my husband said he had borrowed him money, which he promised to pay back by July this year. He borrowed him late last year when he was about to do his wedding. My husband said it was N3.5million. He didn‘t tell me he had any quarrel with Okafor.”

So what was Okafor’s motive for killing Basil and dumping him in a drum in his area (NNPC Ejigbo)? Was it because he felt he couldn’t pay back despite the fact that he runs a men’s clothing store at 131 Ago Palace Way, Okota, or could it be for ritual purposes as speculated by many, given the stickers on his car (‘This year money shall be my servant’ and ‘2011- My year of double blessings’)?

Police sources say no part of Basil’s body was missing. Why, why, why, is the question Goodness is asking, and Baby Precious would also, when she is old enough.

As the saying goes, all’s well that ends well but it really is not when there is so much silence about what did go on.

Exactly two weeks ago, his nanny took ten-month old baby Enioluwa Odegbaike, from his home in Magodo area of Lagos State. The little boy had been left in the care of the nanny, simply identified as Victoria, who apparently absconded with the baby while his mother was in the bathroom.

This last weekend the baby was found in Badagry, a border town in Lagos State. He was immediately united with his parents. The ordeal Mr. and Mrs Odegbaike must have endured in the last two weeks is better imagined than described.

Nanny Victoria’s action raises all kinds of questions. Was the motive kidnapping? Was there a syndicate behind her? Was she stealing the infant for herself? How was the baby recovered? What role did the police play? What has happened to the nanny? Why do we know nothing more about her than her first name? Why in the face of the happy news that Enioluwa has been found are the parents keeping mum?

Kidnapping in Nigeria has assumed the potency of a terrorist threat. The history of this crime that began as a weapon wielded first by Niger Delta militants and grew to become a source of easy money for your common garden criminal has been too often documented to need repetition here. In Baby Enioluwa’s case, there were no reports of any demand for ransom. The most significant aspect of the story was the use of social networks, Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry messaging to alert the populace and circulate the face of this lovely child and Nanny Victoria.

Shortly after the baby went missing, the parents made his picture and that of the nanny available through Facebook and other social media. Before long the news began to circulate among Nigerians both at home and abroad. In fact, the face of baby Enioluwa became so popular that many used his picture as their logo on their Facebook accounts. This helped in no small measure to assist in raising awareness about the poor baby and his parent’s plight. The news about his disappearance, which went viral, was good; it shows the power of communication. But that is about all that can be said about the matter at this point.

It is clear that the information the Odegbaike family had on Victoria, was scanty. Throughout the period of their son’s disappearance they were unable to give the nanny’s family name or it seems provide any background information or documentation on her.

More baffling, or perhaps it is all perfectly understandable given our realities, is the complete absence of any input from the police on this matter. Instead we have social networks and messaging channels filling in the gap and gratitude to God and providence for bringing this child back alive.

Not to put too fine a point on it this is an untenable method of crime detection and law enforcement. If Nigerians avoid the police because they have no faith in the ability of the men and women charged with the duty of protecting them to do the job effectively then we really have some far more basic issues to consider than the current all important one of protecting the sanctity of our vote.

Where are we if we cannot protect our children?

For every Baby Enioluwa there are thousands more, susceptible to the same crime and raising our hands to the sky is not the answer. A well trained professional and functioning police force that has the trust and confidence of the public, the protection of the community and the enforcement of the law as its primary goals is.

Can someone make this a campaign issue, please?

A Chinese baby has become so chubby he now weighs the same as a six-year-old child.

Ten-month-old Lei Lei has been nicknamed the ‘Michelin Baby’ after tipping the scales at a whopping 20kg (3.1 stones).

According to his mother, Cheng Qingyu, her son was a normal weight at birth, but thanks to his ravenous appetite he has steadily ballooned since.Chubby chops:

Lei Lei weighs 20lbs but can just about be lifted up by his mother Cheng QingyuShe said: ‘No matter whatever he grabs, he unconsciously puts it in his mouth.

‘His most favourite thing is to eat.’

Lei Lei is currently in hospital in Yiyang, southern China’s Hunan province, where he is undergoing tests to see if there is a medical reason behind his weight gain.Despite his mammoth size, the portly youngster is not the largest baby in the world.

That accolade goes to Karan Singh, of Meerut, in India, who weighed an astonishing 3 stone 7lbs at the same age.

MEET THE FATTEST BABY IN THE WORLD

Weighing in at a hefty three and a half stone and standing 3ft 2in tall, 10-month-old Karan Singh is a giant among babies.

But her son's size is no surprise to his mother Svetlana - who at 7ft 2in is Asia's tallest woman.

The delighted mother, who is an inch taller than basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, hopes her giant baby will grow up to become the tallest person in the world.

Speaking in the family's modest home in Meerut, on the outskirts of Delhi, India, Svetlana told how the hungry boy needs feeding an astonishing 20 times a day.

"He just doesn't stop eating and never stops growing," she said.

"He is only ten months old and wears clothes designed for five-year-olds. Karan has never fitted into baby clothes.

"Even when he was first born he was 2ft 2in tall and was the same size as a normal two-year-old."

Svetlana's husband Sanjay, who at 6ft 6in has to look up to his wife, hopes his son's height will help him become a basketball player so he can study in America.

"Both sides of our family are very tall - my father is 6ft 5in and Svetlana's father is 6ft 7in - so Karan could not really have been born any other way," he said.

Despite being proud of their size the family admit it can cause problems.

Travelling in buses and cars is almost impossible because both husband and wife have to stoop to fit in.

And shopping becomes an ordeal as hordes of curious onlookers gather to stare at the couple and their giant baby.

"Despite his size everyone treats Karan normally because he is such a happy baby," said Sanjay.

"People who don't know us stare initially but Karan always wins them around with his smile and personality.

"He has a very jolly nature. He laughs and giggles a lot and has already started walking. The amount of food he demands must give him extra energy because he is very strong."

The couple, who are both doctors of naturopathy, a holistic medicine, met at university where their size immediately attracted them to each other.

"I was unsure if I would ever find a wife to match my height, but as soon as I met Svetlana I knew we would make a great couple," said Sanjay.

"I dream Karan will become a doctor like his parents. Perhaps his size will help him - we would love to send him to study in the US and he would be naturally gifted at basketball.

"We hope an American college might take him because he will be so tall."

Girl frozen in time may hold key to ageing

American scientists are keenly studying the DNA of a 17-year-old girl who still has the body and behaviour of a baby

This 21'st century Peter Pan has defied scientists .A genetic condition (Anageria) opposite to progeria which some speculate Paris Hilton and many other women and MEN will kill for ! Brooke Greenberg is a miracle.

Scientists are hoping to gain new insights into the mysteries of ageing by sequencing the genome of a 17-year-old girl who has the body and behaviour of a tiny toddler.

PHOTO:Brooke Greenberg "baby", then aged 9, with sister Carly who was 6

Brooke Greenberg is old enough to drive a car and next year will be old enough to vote — but at 16lb in weight and just 30in tall, she is still the size of a one-year-old.

Until recently she had been regarded as a medical oddity but a preliminary study of her DNA has suggested her failure to grow could be linked to defects in the genes that make the rest of humanity grow old.

If confirmed, the research could give scientists a fresh understanding of ageing and even suggest new therapies for diseases linked to old age.

“We think that Brooke’s condition presents us with a unique opportunity to understand the process of ageing,” said Richard Walker, a professor at the University of South Florida School of Medicine, who is leading the research team.

“We think that she has a mutation in the genes that control her ageing and development so that she appears to have been frozen in time.

“If we can compare her genome to the normal version then we might be able to find those genes and see exactly what they do and how to control them.”

Such research will be the focus of a conference at the Royal Society in London this week to be attended by some of the world’s leading age researchers.

It follows a series of scientific breakthroughs showing that the life span of many animals can be dramatically extended by making minute changes in single genes.

The work began with tiny worms known as C elegans, which normally live for only about a fortnight. Researchers have been able to extend their life span by up to 10 weeks by making small changes in certain genes.

Scientists have gone on to discover that mutating the same genes in mice had the same effect.

“Mice are genetically very close to humans,” said Cynthia Kenyon, professor of biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, who is a key speaker at the Royal Society.

“The implication is that ageing is controlled by a relatively small number of genes and that we might be able to target these with new therapies that would improve the quality and length of human life.”

The laboratory findings have been supported by research into humans, focusing on families whose members are long-lived. In one recent study Eline Slagboom, professor of molecular epidemiology at Leiden University, Holland, collected data on 30,500 people in 500 long-lived families to find the metabolic and genetic factors that make them special.

“Such people simply age slower than the rest of us,” she said. “Their skin is better, they have less risk of diseases of old age like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension and their ability to metabolise lipids and other nutrients is better. The question is: what is controlling all these different manifestations of slow ageing?

“So far, the evidence suggests that there could be just a few key genes in charge of it all. If we can find out where they are and how they work, it opens the way to new therapies against the diseases of ageing that could work in all of us.”

Walker and other researchers, including Kenyon, believe that finding the cause of Brooke Greenberg’s condition could be one way to pinpoint some of those genes.

Superficially, Brooke, who lives with her parents Howard and Melanie Greenberg and her three sisters in Reisterstown, a Baltimore suburb, is frozen in time. She looks and acts as if she were a small toddler — for 17 years her family has changed her nappies, rocked her to sleep and given her cuddles.

Brooke has shown some development, including crawling, smiling and giggling when tickled but she has never learnt to speak and still has her infant teeth.

But she has also suffered a succession of life-threatening health problems, including strokes, seizures, ulcers and breathing difficulties — almost as if she were growing old despite not growing up.

Howard Greenberg, Brooke's father, said he wanted the genome research carried out in the hope it might help others.

He said: "Brooke is just a wonderful child. She is very pure. She still babbles just like a 6 month old baby but she still communicates and we always know just what she means."

Walker and his colleagues, who are working with Brooke’s parents to ensure she benefits from any research findings, have just published a research paper which suggests that in reality some parts of her body have indeed aged — but slowly and all at different rates.

“Our hypothesis is that she is suffering from damage in the gene or genes that co-ordinate the way the body develops and ages,” he said.

“If we can use her DNA to find that mutant gene then we can test it in laboratory animals to see if we can switch if off and slow down the ageing process at will.

“Just possibly it could give us an opportunity to answer the question of why we are mortal.”

Jerly Lyngdoh: World’s oldest baby:

Surgeons and pediatricians in India have been puzzled after discovering a 26-year-old man trapped inside the body and mind of a child aged between one and two years.Jerly Lyngdoh – who is still dressed in baby clothes by his parents – has a head circumference that babies 9-12 months old have, measures 84 cm like any two-year-old and weighs 22 pounds.

“Jerly’s infantile features are remarkable, and the only things he shares with an adult are his teeth,” Dr. J. Ryndong told the Hindustan Times.

According to the pediatrician, Lyngdoh suffers from poor secretion of growth hormones from the pituitary gland.

“His is a case opposite to progeria, which means advanced ageing, and we have reasons to say Jerly is a rarity,” Ryndong added. He ruled out the genetic factor, since all six of Jerly’s siblings have no physical or mental disability.

“We also plan to seek expertise from the medical world beyond to crack Jerly’s case,” the doctor said.

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean couple addicted to an Internet game about raising a virtual child were arrested for neglecting their real 3-month-old daughter and letting her starve to death, news reports said.

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The couple spent between four and six hours every day at Internet cafes in Suwon, a city just south of Seoul, and bottle-fed their baby only once a day, the Yonhap news agency and other South Korean media reported, citing police.

The couple found their baby dead on Sept. 24 when they returned home after playing online games at a nearby Internet cafe all night, Yonhap reported.

The 41-year-old father and his 25-year-old wife, both jobless, went into hiding at a relative's home north of Seoul after a police autopsy found the baby died because of a long period of malnutrition, the report said. Police arrested the couple on Wednesday, it said.

“I'm sorry to my daughter and hope she doesn't get sick in heaven,” the father was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

News reports said the girl was born prematurely, weighing 5 pounds (2.25 kilograms), and had spent one month in an incubator.

The couple, who met each other through an Internet chat site, was reportedly obsessed with a role-playing game called “Prius Online” in which they nurtured a virtual girl dubbed “Anima.”

Calls to the Suwon police team handling the case rang unanswered Saturday..

Related:

An Internet-game craze has swept across the nation of South Korea. Some players have died after playing computer games for days-on-end without getting out of their seats to use the bathroom, to eat or to sleep. Others have lost their jobs by continuously playing the game 'Warcraft,' instead of fulfilling the responsibilities of their jobs. Computer rooms all over South Korea are filled to capacity, 24/7. But, now innocent infants have been vicitimized by the 'virtual-game addiction.'

The Houston Chronicle reports that, "a South Korean couple addicted to an Internet game about raising a virtual child were arrested for neglecting their real 3-month-old daughter and letting her starve to death, news reports said.

Excuse me, but this is foolish. South Korean parents are playing a game about raising a 'virtual' infant, and it doesn't enter their minds that they too have a real baby who needs to be fed, bathed and properly taken care of.

Sadly, the judicial system is weak and too accomodating to criminals in South Korea. The accused parents stand a good chance of not serving any prison-time if they are convicted of killing a 'real' baby. In similar cases, some parents, who killed their children through woeful neglect, were only forced to serve one-to-three years in prison after being judged guilty for their crimes.

According to the Chronicle, "the couple spent between four and six hours a day at Internet cafes in Suwon, a city just south of Seoul, and bottle-fed their baby only once a day, the Yonhap news agency, and other South Korean media reported, citing sources."

On Sept. 24, the married couple found their baby dead, when they returned to their residence after playing the so-called 'virtual' baby game at a nearby Internet cafe all night, as disclosed by Yonhap.