Man, daughter ‘steal’ two-month old baby

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.”