Olusegun Adeyemo
The police in Ekiti State on Wednesday recovered the newborn baby boy stolen from a health centre in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on Monday morning.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Joseph Eribo, said the recovery of the baby and arrest of the suspect, Deborah Ayeni, followed diligent investigation by men and officials of the command.
The CP, who spoke in his office while handing over the baby to the parents, said, “In the process of probing the case of the missing baby, we discovered a nylon bag containing new baby items in the health centre.
Eribo, who said that someone also hinted at a lady with a baby suspected not to be hers, said that security agents followed the information, which culminated in the recovery of the baby and the arrest of the suspect.
The 34-year-old suspect, Ayeni, while explaining the situation surrounding her action, said, “I made away with the baby from the health centre because I want a baby of my own”.
The young lady, who said that she had done a marriage engagement with a United Kingdom-based man, said, “I had done an engagement with my husband. He is in the UK. I was pregnant with him, but I lost the pregnancy in March.
The suspect, while explaining how she executed the plot, said that she went to the health facility pretending she was pregnant by stuffing herself with cloths.
She said that she decided to be friendly with the parents of the newborn especially that she could communicate with them in Hausa language.
The suspect, who denied connivance with any staff of the facility, nor stalking the baby’s mother, said she had been looking for an opportunity to take any newborn baby as her own.
Ayeni said that she fed the baby with baby food while in her custody.
The baby’s father, 29-year-old Mustapha Aliyu, who expressed joy on the recovery of the baby, said that the lady was friendly with them and that he even asked her to assist the mother in caring for the baby when he wanted to step out of the hospital.
On how it happened, Aliyu noted that Ayeni said she fed the baby with baby food while in her custody.
“The hot water supply in the health centre ran out. My wife went to the bathroom, and then I went to the mosque to pray.
“Upon returning from prayer, I realised that the lady alongside my baby was nowhere to be found.”