In the dusty village of Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem, Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State, Edet Okon sat down in front of St. Mark Primary School.

Sitting cross-legged on the concrete floor on one of the blocks of classrooms he now calls his home, the 40-year-old
father of three leaned forward to
exchange pleasantries with this
correspondent.Okon’s immediate family members and
963 other households had fled their ancestral homes in Efut Obot Ikot in the ceded Bakassi Peninsula in March 2013.

The fisherman lost his first daughter,
Blessing, to the cold hands of death in September 2013, after battling with blood cancer for five months.But Okon’s agony did not end with Blessing’s death. Indeed, he now lives in
the pool of the anguish of a man who has to practically sell his child into slavery. To raise funds for the series of medical tests, drugs, feeding and hospital bills incurred by Blessing, he opted to
secure loans from someone to save her dying daughter.With no property to guarantee the loan,
Okon gave up his second daughter, Mary,as collateral to secure the sum of N600,
000 given to him in installments.

Our correspondent gathered that the creditor is a civil servant based in Calabar.

“I was desperate to save Blessing from dying. Her situation had become critical at that time. That was the only thing I could do to salvage the situation. I am heartbroken,” Okon said, as his voice faded off, breaking down in tears.As tears rolled down his cheeks, he recalled the day he ‘sold’ her daughter into servitude.

“I don’t know what came over me. It was sheer desperation I gave out my daughter so that the man would accept to give us the money,”Okon added, fighting back regrets of what many are likely to regard as condemnable.

Our correspondent reached out to the intermediary, Daniel Ufot. He helped Okon to negotiate the N600, 000 loan from the creditor. On getting to the residence of the 59-year-old Ufot, who lives some five kilometres away from the
camp, our correspondent found Mary in his residence. Ufot explained that some plain-cloth
security operatives keeping watch on the camp had asked him to bring Mary from Calabar to meet with his father who he
had not seen in 19 months.

“I do not know Okon from Adam.
But since I’m an expert in money
lending, I offered to help him after having learnt of his predicament on how he had been battling to save the life of his daughter.But unfortunately, he could not provide any form of collateral to secure the loan. But the creditor, in his magnanimity, agreed to have her daughter as collateral since she was the only valuable ‘thing’ he could
offer,” Ufot said.

In a chat with this correspondent, Mary,who was a junior secondary school 2
pupil before they left Bakassi in March,2013, has since dropped out of school following their displacement from the oil
rich peninsular. She shared horrible tales of inhuman treatment in the hands of
her father’s creditor.

Every morning, Mary hawks bottle water on the streets of Calabar, where, incidentally, Mary Slessor stopped the killing of twins. Observers may also spot the irony in the name of the legendary missionary and the enslaved Mary Okon. She added that on any day she failed to
exhaust the sales of her wares, her new guardians descended heavily on her,beating her mercilessly in the process.

“The man my father is owing has
three female children and some
other relatives are also putting up with us in the house. They normally give me a revenue target of N1, 000 daily.And sometimes when the market is bad and I don’t finish selling the water, they beat me up.They treat me very badly. I eat only
once in a day and that is in the
morning. I wash all their clothes,
including the ladies’ pants, and do other house chores, too. And if I hesitate on washing their pants, they get infuriated and throw objects at me at will. I will not feel happy if I go back there,” she narrated.

Yet, Ufot insisted that he only brought Mary to meet with his father as a respite
since he had not set his eyes on her for about 19 months.

“There are no signs that they would be repaying the loan. I only obeyed the instruction of the security men. She will be on her way back to the creditor’s place in Calabar,” Ufot said.

When contacted, the Refugee CampLeader, Etim Ene,confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone on Monday that Mary has indeed returned to the creditor in Calabar.


Ene said,

“Mary has been taken to the
creditor’s house in Calabar South. He was taken away by the
guarantor, on December 2.”

Efforts by our correspondent to trace the address of the creditor, whose name is given as Asuquo Etim, said to be residing on Atimbo Road, Calabar South Local Government Area, was abortive. The creditor is said to be an employee of the Cross River State Urban Development
Agency.

Ufot had earlier refused to allow Mary to travel with our correspondent to her master’s residence for fear of the
unknown. Mary’s mother was away in the farm during a visit by The Punch.

Source: http:///4qw


Culled from Punch: http://www.punchng.com/news/bakassi-refugee-father-uses-daughter-as-collateral-for-n600000-loan/

Using a child as collateral sound funy.
Are you pondering what i am pondering?

God have mercy

Na wa Oooooo

And una president from south dey get 21Billion naira donation and 20billion US dollars is still missing.....back to the topic, I understand you sir is pure desperation. The money might even be for the child's welfare or future needs

As a father let me pretend as if what the man did was not morally challenging and bash the the money lender for having the mind to loan someone some money and collect his child as collateral. It was too harsh, I would rather not help the man!

Back to that man, I agree desperation can push a man to do the incomprehensible but don't he has relations, don't he belong to a religious group, don't he belong to an association, has he never had of NGOs who could help?

In his shoes I will explore these avenues and not rob peter to pay Paul.

Nothing wey we no go see for Nigeria...

If this is against the child's will, then this is a jail time offence..

Wickedness hiding under monetary problem as an excuse.. Labbish..

Nawa oo

Unbelievable!

Nigeria and comedy

Na calabar all ds kind tinz d happen pls s dat how high levelz of poverty s down dere?

Hilarious

Dude is a true descendant of our forefathers,whom would sell their child they believe is useless to em in slave trade.

What should the daughter be used for?

Why can men be so heartless??

Nonsense. Both men are stupid and should be locked up for life

html14java:
Ok

My Chari.ty Comment

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мémьея, SвAи

i love your label.

Nawa for this man ooo

Nothing we no go hear 4 dis world

oluwadanie1:
What should the daughter be used for?

Pls help me asked the two idiats

Its a cold world.he wanted to save one,bt now he may lose both daughters.life is kinda cruel.And i thought i am suffering...

falconey:
And una president from south dey get 21Billion naira donation and 20billion US dollars is still missing.....back to the topic, I understand you sir is pure desperation. The money might even be for the child's welfare or future needs

Must u politicise every tin in ur desperation to win affection nd compassion 4 ur candidate.

Him don sell d Girl now
the Man doesn't look to me like someone who is goin to pay back the money

plus the pix does not show any evidence of transaction sha

Ok

Stupi.d, senseless lender y take people for ransome

Ediot

its a lie

Poverty SMH. I pity the innocent girl.