Olaide Adekunle, 33, was detained by the Ogun State Police Command for reportedly selling her 18-month-old child for N600,000 to pay off a bank loan.
According to reports, Olaide, who resides in Sango in the state’s Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, traveled to Lagos to sell the child to an unnamed bidder.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, revealed this in a statement on Monday. She said she was detained by officers of the state Police Command in response to a complaint made by the woman’s husband, Nureni Rasaq, at the Sango divisional headquarters.
She added that the husband reported that his wife left their home on March 15, 2023, for Lagos with their baby girl, Moridiat Rasaq, but returned home without the baby.
The PPRO revealed that the husband also stated that all efforts to know what happened to the baby proved abortive as the woman was unable to give any reasonable account of the whereabouts of the said baby.
“Upon the report, the DPO Sango division, CSP Dahiru Saleh, detailed his detectives to go after the said woman, and she was promptly arrested.
“On interrogation, the suspect confessed that she had sold the baby to someone in Lagos at the rate of N600,000.
“When asked the reason for her action, she stated that she borrowed money from a microfinance bank, and when she was unable to pay back the money, the bank agents started dragging her and threatened to deal decisively with her.
“It was consequent upon this that she ran to Lagos and started hawking sachet water.
“It was while hawking that she met a man who introduced her to the woman that eventually bought the child in Lagos.”
Oyeyemi disclosed that the acting Commissioner of Police, DCP Babakura Muhammed, had directed that the suspect be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible recovery of the baby.