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.
PUNCH Metro 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, told PUNCH Metro that 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.”
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