Three women, including two nurses, have been arrested by the Katsina State Police Command for the alleged theft of a newborn baby girl abandoned in a private hospital in the state.
According to the police, one Shamsiya Sani of the Dandagoro Quarter, Katsina, was delivered of the baby on July 25, 2020.
The mother reportedly abandoned the baby shortly after delivery and left behind a handwritten note, which explained that she took the action because the baby was born out of wedlock.
The police said the two nurses at the hospital, Misira Tijani and Grace Ejigu, took the baby and allegedly sold her to one Eucharia Onyema.
The three women were paraded at the headquarters of the state police command on Monday, August 3.
The command’s spokesman, SP Gambo Isah in a statement said a commercial tricycle driver that the three woman hired drove them to the Sabongarin Police Division after eavesdropping on their conversation.
His statement partly reads;
On July 25th 2020 at about 10:00hrs, one Shamsiyya Sani, aged 25 years of Dandagoro quarters, Katsina was delivered of a baby girl at Okomos Clinic, Kofar Kaura, Katsina.
She later abandoned the child at the hospital with a handwritten note stating that she was born out of wedlock hence the abandonment.
Nemesis caught up with them when they were arrested on their way from the hospital to their houses with the child through the help of a Keke Napep rider who suspected them of stealing of the child. An investigation is ongoing.
Isah added;
The baby is already receiving attention at the Social Welfare Department of the state Ministry of Youths and Social Development.
The nurses, however, denied selling the baby, insisting that they gave her to Eucharia Onyema on ‘humanitarian grounds’.
Tijani said;
We took the step on humanitarian grounds. We never sold the baby. The only mistake we made was not informing the hospital management before taking the action.
Eucharia, 45, also insisted that she did not buy the baby, adding that she collected the child from the nurses with a view to taking care of her, since she has no child of her own.
