Professor Solomon Musa Tarfa, an academic, has been apprehended by the Kano State Police Command following suspicions of his involvement in a baby factory operation within the state.
Nineteen individuals of various ages and genders were rescued in a raid on December 25, 2019 at the orphanage home ‘Du Mercy Children Development Ministry’, which Tarfa has reportedly been running for more than twenty years.
Allegations were made against the professor, accusing him of collaborating with Chidi Christopher, who manages a maternity clinic in the Nomansland area of Kano, to abduct newborn babies from their parents. Kano Police Spokesperson, DSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, alleged that a Dr. Nwoye, who is currently at large, provided ante-natal care to pregnant women and then transferred their babies to the orphanage home.
Additionally, Professor Tarfa’s wife, Mercy, was implicated in facilitating the acquisition of children through illicit means.
Kiyawa stated, “In our sustained effort to recover more missing children, the command on 25 December, 2019, received credible information that Professor Solomon Musa Tarfa of No. 15 Iroko Avenue, Nomansland Kano operates a private orphanage home named Du Mercy Children Development Ministry without government approval. He used the orphanage home to house children of both sexes reasonably believed to be illegally obtained.”
The police also purportedly rescued eight more children from another orphanage in Kaduna state linked to Professor Tarfa.
Although the academic declined to disclose how he obtained the children found in his orphanage, he claimed that his arrest and subsequent detention in police custody for over three weeks was a deliberate attempt to damage his reputation, asserting that his facility is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.