Dead day-old baby evokes curses in Ekiti

By Rotimi Ojomoyela The saying, different strokes for different folks, couldn’t have been more apt to describe the scene at the popular canal in Irona road, Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital, on Saturday, June 25, 2016, as people besieged the canal to have a glimpse of a day old, lifeless baby boy with his placenta still strapped to his body, dumped in the canal. •A large crowd at the canal. Inset: The dead dumped baby in the canal There was outpouring of emotions over the discovery as 








sympathetic residents and passers-by berated the culprit for being heartless, while others prayed for the baby’s gentle soul to rest in peace. Some of the passers-by, who took photo shots of the baby,  cursed and expressed concern over the action of the mother of the child, describing the incident as an act of wickedness on her part. Interestingly, the canal in which the baby was dumped is close to a community, named Okebola, that has gained notoriety for diverse immoral and unlawful activities which range from prostitution, thuggery, idleness and armed robbery among others. Who did it? It was gathered that the baby was dropped inside the huge canal at dawn by an unknown person as traders around the area said they didn’t notice it until early in the morning. “The unfortunate baby must have been dropped inside the canal by its assailant very early this morning because we didn’t notice it yesterday night until we closed from shop”, a trader, who didn’t want her name in print, said. Speculating that any of the sex workers whose brothels are close to the area, might be responsible for the child’s tragedy, a commercial motorcyclist, Mufu Ayeni, said, “that baby was very unlucky. It had died before the police came to the spot. All these Ashawo (commercial sex workers) are responsible for committing this kind of atrocity. It is one of them that would do this. If you examine the baby very well. It was still smeared with blood which showed that it was dumped inside the canal immediately after it was delivered. “One thing we cannot claim is whether the baby had died before it was dumped inside the canal or after the deed was done. But whoever has done this is surely a wicked person.“ Besides, Ayeni lamented that “nobody knows what this baby will become tomorrow. Even the woman that did this does not know the consequences of her action. In a situation where some women are going to God to bless them with a child, here another gave birth to such a handsome baby boy and dumped him inside the river. What a sad situation.” The incident caused heavy traffic along the busy Ijigbo/Irona market road as a crowd, vehicles and commercial motorcyclists, who besideged the scene caused serious traffic gridlock. Police evacuates dead baby Confirming the tragic development, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, said that the baby’s corpse has been deposited at the state mortuary while investigations on the matter have started. In his words, “when the reports came to us that a day old baby was dumped inside a canal in the area, we swiftly sent a rescue team to the spot. Our men found the baby dead inside the canal and they have evacuated its body and have taken it to the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital’ mortuary.   We have also begun investigations into the development.”