Punch
Mental illness among new mothers is a global phenomenon, but it is not being properly attended to in Nigeria due to a combination of factors. The lives of newborn babies are at risk, DEJI LAMBO writes
In the evening of Monday, March 15, 2021, a one-day-old baby boy was rescued after his yet-to-be-identified mother abandoned him for dead on Oladejo Street in Oko-Oba, a suburb of Lagos State.
A good Samaritan, who heard the baby’s cry, alerted men of the Oko-Oba Division of the Lagos State Police Command, who quickly rushed to rescue the infant around 10.20pm.
After necessary medical attention, the police handed the baby over to the Child Protection Unit of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development in the state.
A week after the incident, another yet-to-be-identified mother, in a similar fashion, abandoned her day-old baby around the Ayinke House, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
The state police command, after being informed by the security department of LASUTH, recovered the baby’s corpse on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
Till date, the whereabouts of the babies’ mothers remain unknown.
Drowned in a bucket of water
While cases of abandoned babies are familiar in Nigeria, in recent times there has been an upsurge in cases of deliberate maternal infanticide.
One of the most well-known cases in recent times is that of Oluwafunmilola Adisa. The case made the news after the lifeless body of 21-month-old Oluwanifemi was recovered from a flat in the Ipaja area of Lagos State.
When this reporter tracked down Oluwafunmilola to a location in the state, he discovered that there was more to her chilling story.
The case stirred a huge controversy on social media. Most of the comments were negative with many Nigerians excoriating the 22-year-old mother for what many described as a callous and inhumane deed.
Such was the public anger that this reporter expected to meet a distraught and remorseful Oluwafunmilola when he sought her out. However, he met her lively and unbothered.
“I never felt any pain while killing my daughter, Oluwanifemi, because I was very desperate,” she said without a hint of regret. Her take on the most momentous incident of her life so far was heart-wrenching.
No one will be saying I had a daughter outside wedlock. At first, I thought of strangling her or suffocating her with a pillow. But somehow, I got the idea of drowning her because water kills faster,” she stated.
Armed with this thought, the 22-year-old started hatching the plan, which she executed around 2pm on Monday, May 11, 2020. Oluwafunmilola’s sister, Damilola, a pharmacist, woke up early for work, leaving the mother and daughter all alone at her residence on Plot 221 Gowon Estate, Ipaja.
