Residents allege foul play over woman caught with 1-month-old baby

Residents of Tasha 2 area in Gwagwa community of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have raised an alarm over a woman caught with a male baby of about a month old, alleging child trafficking scandal. But the woman reportedly said the baby was handed over to her by the social welfare office in Suleja LGA, […]

Residents of Tasha 2 area in Gwagwa community of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have raised an alarm over a woman caught with a male baby of about a month old, alleging child trafficking scandal.

But the woman reportedly said the baby was handed over to her by the social welfare office in Suleja LGA, Niger State, to look after it.

A resident, Ogdu Cornelius, who first raised the alarm, told Abuja Metro yesterday that the woman was found in a building in the neigbourhood around 11pm, on Monday with the baby crying without stopping.

He said he summoned courage and went into the facility where, according to him, he found two elderly women, with one of them later identified as Madam Obodo Magdalen, holding the child.

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“I tried to inquire from her about the baby’s mother in order to breastfeed him, but the woman appeared to be unsatisfied with my demand. ‘’So, she responded in annoyance, asking what is my concern,’’ the resident said.

He said the facility where the woman was found with the baby was rented by a church using it to shelter the followers who used to attend the night vigil programme, but couldn’t go back to their homes after the service.

“So, the woman appeared questionable,” he said, adding that, “As I was making an effort to take the matter to our ward head, the woman invited the police from the Gwagwa division, who arrived and took us to their office.

“At the division, she told the police that she was running an orphanage home at the Tungan-Wakili community, near Dei-Dei town, and that it was a couple that adopted the baby from the social welfare office in Suleja town that handed the child over to her for upkeeping.’’

The resident further alleged that the police detained him in their custody following a claim from the woman that he had slapped her.

Comrade Nura Muktar, a leader of the Human Rights Network in Nigeria, told Abuja Metro that after his attention was called to the incident, the first thing he did was to secure the release of the detained resident the following day, Tuesday.

He said thereafter, he visited two social welfare offices in Suleja town, run by the LGA, and the state government, respectively, where according to him, the officials at both offices denied giving a child to a woman with the name of the couple in question.

Also speaking, another concerned resident, Mrs Gloria Jeremiah, alleged that the woman in question was nabbed at the same location last November, with another girl of about six years old that she claimed to be taking care of at her orphanage.

“We were feeding the girl for a while and later went ahead to report the matter to the same police division, but that was the end of the case; only to see the same woman, with another baby now,’’ she alleged.

She explained that after the latest case was reported to the police in Gwagwa division, the division had promised to visit the Suleja social welfare office for a fact-finding mission, in the company of the complainant, as well as the ward head of the area where the baby and the woman were located.

“But they didn’t fulfil their promise of taking the two people along during the scheduled visit on Wednesday,” Madam Jeremiah added.

When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Gwagwa division, CSP Muktar Adamu, said the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) of the case had visited the Social Welfare office in Suleja town on Wednesday in the company of a colleague, where according to him the office had confirmed that the baby was given to the woman from there.

He further said he had directed the police team to return to the welfare home and get the confirmation in writing.