Two officials of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development have been charged with conspiracy and theft of a baby belonging to a mentally deranged woman.
Sarumi Adeyemi and Orisamehin Florence Bosede were accused of stealing Deborah Iretioluwa Olorundare’s baby girl and exchanging the same with an imbecile baby boy.
They reportedly committed the offence on September 14, 2020.
Deborah was said to have given birth to the baby on the street and was taken by good Samaritans to MM Catholic Hospital in Ondo town.
Some Ondo State Government officials waded in and sent the mother to a psychiatric hospital while the baby was taken to an orphanage.
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Trouble began when a decision was taken that the baby should be taken to the mother who was undergoing treatment for the necessary bonding between mother and child but, intriguingly, officials of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development did not bring the baby.
Deborah was said to have demanded to see her baby after she was discharged from the hospital, following which a baby boy was presented to her but she rejected it, insisting that she was delivered of a baby girl and not a boy.
Resultant petitions from concerned individuals alleging the involvement of a child trafficking syndicate in the matter prompted the Department of State Services to launch an investigation into Deborah’s claim.
The investigation, it was gathered, revealed that Deborah was delivered a female and not a male child presented to her by the defendants.
It was further revealed that Deborah’s baby was given to one Mrs. Toyin Olabiwonninu who allegedly paid about one million naira to adopt her.
A ministry official, Rosemary Ali, who was interrogated was said to have informed DSS operatives that she was actively involved in the adoption process and that she was certain that the baby was a female.
Ali said she had to lie in her first statement at the State CID claiming that the baby was a male because her life was being threatened.
It was also discovered that the errant government officials had asked Deborah and some of her family members to sign some documents claiming that they did not need the baby.
However, efforts so far made to retrieve the baby from Olabiwonninu have been unsuccessful as she was said to have traveled out of the country with the baby and showing no sign of returning home any time soon.
Hearing in the case is billed to commence before Justice A. A Fasanmi on November 11, 2021.
The Nation
