The Ajangbadi Police Division of the Lagos State Command on Thursday, September 15th, arrested Ifunanya Eme for dumping her newborn baby by the road side around 3am on Tuesday, two hours after delivering the baby by herself. The 31-year-old single mother claimed she dumped the baby because she couldn’t afford to feed her as the father had abandoned her when she became pregnant.
It was gathered that a passerby alerted the police after hearing the pitiful cries of the baby. The police arrived the scene and took the baby to a nearby hospital for check up, before they initiated an investigation to discover the mother.
Their first clue came when some neighbours alerted the Divisional Police Officer, Alim Musa, a Chief Superintendent of Police, about the pool of blood trickling out of a neighbour’s house. When the police got to the residence, the suspect was seen recuperating, while the baby was nowhere to be seen.
The police questioned her once they confirmed from the neighbours that she was indeed pregnant. Ms Eme, who works as a sales person in a tricycles shop, admitted to the offence. The suspect, who was paraded at the police command headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos, said the fut she claimed she had just gotten the job and that the pay wasn’t much.
“I gave up my daughter because I had no help and my mother is dead. I don’t even know the whereabouts of her father. The only thing I know is that he told me he was traveling. Since that day till now, the number he gave me can’t be reached.”