An
80-year-old woman, Kuburat Ayinde, has been arrested by the police after she
was caught with a dead baby boy in the Oshodi under bridge area of Lagos State.
The
woman had allegedly abducted the baby alive from Abeokuta, Ogun State, and
strapped him to her back.
The
infant, however, died before she arrived in Lagos. The octogenarian was
arrested on Sunday.
It was gathered that Ayinde wanted to board a bus
to Ikorodu from Oshodi at about 2pm on Sunday when a commuter noticed that she
was fidgety.
The
man and other passers-by were said to have asked her about the whereabouts of
the baby’s mother, but she could not give a convincing reply.
It
was learnt that the baby was discovered to be dead after the octogenarian was
forced to remove him from her back.
A
witness, Tunde Aruna, said Ayinde would
have been mobbed but for her old age and the intervention of some elderly
people.
He
said, “The woman alighted from a bus en route from Abeokuta and she wanted to
board another one to Ikorodu. While she and others were waiting for a bus, a
man noticed that she was nervous. He alerted people around the bus stop and
they confronted her.
“She
was initially reluctant to remove the baby from her back, but people threatened
to beat her up. When it was discovered that the baby was dead, she was told to
strap him to her back again. Some hoodlums wanted to mob her but some people
came to her rescue.”
A
commercial driver, Dele Alabi, said the crowd made the suspect move around the
area with the boy strapped to her back, adding that she was later handed over
to policemen from the Mosafejo division.
“The
woman was fortunate that people were able to prevail on the hoodlums. She would
have been lynched. I believe she abducted the boy. We want the police to do a
thorough investigation and find the mother of the child,” he said.
It
was gathered that Ayinde, while on the bus from Abeokuta, had been told to put
the baby on her laps so that he could have fresh air.
A
trader, Tayo Folawiyo, said, “A lady who boarded the same bus with the woman
from Abeokuta told us that she had asked her to remove the boy from her back
while they were on the bus, but she refused.”
The
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the suspect
claimed to be the baby’s grandmother, adding that investigation had commenced
into the matter.
She
said, “Around 2.30pm, the woman was brought to the station with a dead
six-month-old baby, strapped to her back. She claimed to be returning with her
dead grandchild from Abeokuta to her base in Ikorodu.
“She
claimed the baby died in transit from Abeokuta en route to Lagos and that his
mother is mentally unstable. The baby has been deposited in a morgue for
autopsy. The case is under investigation.”
Latest information reaching CKN news has it that it has
been confirmed that the baby was her grandchild and that she was on her way to Lagos
to seek medical attention for him before he died.
Unconfirmed report has it that she has been released by
the police as investigation continues.
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Society