Police arrest woman for selling baby to pay debt

Etim Ekpimah

A 33-year-old woman, Olaide Adekunle, has been by the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly selling her 18-month-old baby at N600,000 to a yet-to-be-identified buyer.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect was arrested following a complaint lodged at Sango divisional headquarters by the woman’s husband, one Nureni Rasaq.

According to him, the husband had reported that his wife (Olaide Adekunle), left home for Lagos on 15 March 2023 with their baby girl (Moridiat Rasaq), but returned home without the baby.

The PPRO stated that the said husband said further that all efforts to know what happened to the baby proved abortive as the woman was unable to give any reasonable account about the whereabouts of the baby.

Oyeyemi noted that acting on the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Sango, CSP Dahiru Saleh, detailed his detectives to go after the woman, and she was arrested.

The PPRO explained that during interrogation, the suspect confessed that she sold the baby to someone in Lagos for N600,000.

He said further, “When asked the reason for her action, she stated that she borrowed money from a microfinance bank, and when she was unable to pay back the money, the bank agents started dragging her and threatening to deal decisively with her.

“It was consequent upon this that she ran to Lagos and started hawking sachet water.

“It was while hawking that she met a man who introduced her to the woman that eventually bought the child in Lagos.” Meanwhile, the acting Commissioner of Police in the state, DCP Babakura Muhammed, has directed that the suspect be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible recovery of the baby.