Former Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, has alleged that some women use steroids to fake pregnancies before obtaining babies to deceive their husbands into believing they gave birth, Peak Newspaper reports.
Okah-Donli made the allegation during an appearance on the Kaa Truths Podcast, where she spoke on alleged fake pregnancy syndicates and baby trafficking in Nigeria.
According to her, women involved in the practice are allegedly injected with steroids that cause their stomachs and faces to swell, giving them the appearance of being pregnant.
She further claimed that some of the women imitate pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness, vomiting and frequent spitting, particularly when their husbands are present, to sustain the deception.
The former NAPTIP boss also alleged that the supposed childbirth is often arranged while the husband is away on a trip or sent on an errand. Upon his return, he is presented with a newborn and informed that his wife has delivered.
Okah-Donli claimed that, in some instances, women undergo fake surgical procedures to create scars resembling those from caesarean section deliveries in order to make the deception appear genuine.
She linked the alleged practice to cases in which paternity tests reveal that children are not biologically related to their presumed fathers, arguing that maternity tests should also be conducted to determine whether the woman actually gave birth to the child.
According to her, such tests could help investigators uncover cases of baby trafficking and identify the true origin of the children involved.
She also alleged that some women claim to have delivered twins, triplets or quadruplets because acquiring multiple babies at once makes the deception easier to maintain.
