A 23-year-old mother known as Mary Olatayo has reportedly sold her three-week-old baby for 600,000 naira in Ogun state South West Nigeria.
The State Police Command stated that Olatayo was arrested on August 18, following a complaint from the father of the baby, at Mowe Divisional Police Headquarters, of the state.
The father of the baby had told the police that he had a relationship with the lady that led to the birth of the boy before she suddenly disappeared with the baby from the apartment he rented for three weeks after delivery.
Spokesman of the Ogun Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, stated that the Division Police Officer (DPO) of Mowe Division, SP Folake Afeniforo, acting on a tip-off, detailed detectives to the scene and arrested the suspect who upon interrogation, confessed to selling the baby to someone in Anambra State at the rate of six hundred thousand Naira.
Oyeyemi said, “The man said Mary got pregnant in the process and he rented an apartment for her where she lived till she delivered a baby boy. He explained further that the lady suddenly disappeared with the baby from the apartment three weeks after delivery, only for her to be found in a hotel where she went to ‘hook-up’ with another man.
“All efforts to know the baby’s whereabouts proved futile. On the strength of his complaint, the Divisional Police Officer, Mowe Division, SP Folake Afeniforo, detailed detectives to the scene where the suspect was arrested and brought to the station.
“On interrogation, Mary Olatayo, confessed to the police that she sold the baby to someone in Anambra State at the rate of N600,000. She confessed that it was her friend, Chioma Ogbonna, who led her to the buyer in Anambra State, and that they both shared the money equally.
“Her confession led to the arrest of Chioma Ogbonna, who also corroborated Mary’s claims. Further investigation revealed that Mary Olatayo, a native of Omu-Aran in Kwara State, is a call girl, who sees the baby as a disturbance to her business, hence she decided to do away with the baby.
“Fortunately for her, she has an accomplice in Chioma, a native of Imo State, who quickly contacted the buyer in state.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the State CIID for further investigation while legal efforts are on to recover the sold baby.
(DAILY POST/VANGUARD)
