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.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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