I found baby under Oyingbo bridge’
The police have arrested a house painter,
Jamiu Jimoh, and his birth attendant
daughter, Yetunde Osin, for allegedly stealing
a two-month old baby girl from its mother.
Jimoh, a 65-year-old divorcée, and Osin, a 35-
year-old spinster, were arrested in possession
of the baby by a team of police detectives
from the Igbgbo Police Station, Ikorodu, Lagos
following a tip off.
The police source said the suspects are part
of a child stealing and selling syndicate.
The Nation learnt that Osin practices her birth
attendant trade at her 4, Kadara Street
residence in Oyingbo.
It was learnt that on November 9, Osin helped
a 28-year-old woman, Stella to deliver a baby
girl at her home. She was said to have told
the woman that the child was dead and even
showed the mother a dead child. She then
brought the baby to her father in Ikorodu.
But Osin disputed the story, saying she found
the baby under a bridge near her Oyingbo
home.
She said: “On November 9, I was walking
along the road in Oyingbo. I found a baby on
the ground. It was a female child, so I took it.
That was the mistake I made. I should have
gone to report to the police, but because it
was a female baby, I liked it. That was how I
took the baby home. But when I saw how
everyone was behaving, gossiping, I brought
the baby to my father in Ikorodu, so that I
could be taking care of her from there. Even
when I couldn’t come to Ikorodu from
Oyingbo, my father was there to take care of
her. On Sunday after leaving his home,
someone called me at night that my father
had been arrested.
“I am a hairdresser, but I am also a traditional
birth attendant. The baby wasn’t born at my
place. I wasn’t the one that helped the
mother of the child deliver the baby. But
when the police heard that I was a traditional
birth attendant and questioned me about
whether I assisted the baby’s mother during
delivery, I said yes.
“I found the baby under the bridge on Apapa
Road, Oyingbo. The baby has been with me
since November.”
Jimoh, who lives on 4, Aro Street, Ikorodu,
also denied having knowledge that the baby
was stolen.
He confirmed to Lateef Akinborode, Executive
Director, Community Women’s Rights
Foundation (CWRF), Igbogbo, Ikorodu that the
baby was found in his possession.
In an audio interview with Akinborode, made
available to The Nation, Jimoh said: “She
(Osin) is not the baby’s mother. She was not
pregnant. I don’t know the baby’s mother. My
daughter has never brought children to me to
take care of before.”
