A housewife, Mrs Fatima Adamu has been arrested by the Police in Niger
State for allegedly stealing a day old baby girl from her mother, one
Samsiya Auwalu, in connivance with the ex-husband of the baby’s mother.
Adamu was
also accused of setting the apartment of the mother of the stolen baby
ablaze after the theft, in
order to cause confusion among the family members of the stolen baby .
The
incident occurred at Ungwa Kaje in Bosso Local Government Area of the
state at about 11: 00a.m last Tuesday, when the suspect was left in the
room with the baby.
Information gathered by Crime Reports had it
that shortly after the theft, the suspect handed the baby over to her
niece, Aisha, who accompanied her to the scene of the crime, and
instructed her to leave while she remained behind to set some of the
clothes in the room on fire with the liquid substance in a container
hidden in her bag.
The Director General, Niger State Child Rights
Agency, Barrister Mariam Haruna Kolo whose office reported the matter
officially to the police, told Crime Reports that the baby’s mother
discovered the stealing of her baby when she returned to her room.
In
a brief chat with Crime Reports last Wednesday in Minna, Barrister Kolo
said that the nursing mother raised the alarm when she noticed this.
To
perfect her plan, the suspect reportedly advised the new mother to go
and take her bath, failure of which could cause her baby ill-health, an
advice Samsiya heeded, giving the suspect the opportunity to carry out
her plan.
When asked to produce her niece after the theft,
Fatimah reportedly claimed ignorance of her whereabouts but the niece
was later apprehended with the baby still strapped to her back.
Upon
interrogation, Fatimah was said to have confessed that one Mohammed
Shehu, an ex-husband of the new mother, was the mastermind of the crime.
He and Samsiya reportedly separated about a year before the birth of
the baby.
He was said to have planned the abduction of the
baby when he learnt that his ex-wife put to bed, with the intention to
demand for the N40,000 he paid as dowry on the ex-wife, before he would
release the baby.
This was confirmed by the ex-husband as he
said he wanted to use the baby to negotiate the refund of his money. The
day-old baby girl had since been re-united with her mother .
Meanwhile, Barrister Kolo has expressed shock over the incident, describing the theft of the little baby as very disheartening.
She added that government would follow the case up in order to make it serve as a deterrent to others in the future.
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