Policemen
in Lagos, yesterday, foiled attempt by a mob to lynch a middle-aged
woman who was in possession of a dead child at Mile-Two, along
Oshodi/Apapa expressway.
Though
the woman, who gave her name as Florence, claimed that the dead child
was hers, the mob said she could have kidnapped and killed the child for
money ritual.
When
Newsman arrived the the scene yesterday, the dead child was seen lying
by the side of the expressway, with Florence by his side. Two Ghana must
go bags were found by her side.
Inside the bags were beverages, detergents and assorted clothes.
Though
news making the round earlier had it that the child’s eyes were
plucked, but we discovered that the eyeballs were only popped.
Information gathered revealed that the woman had been sighted in the area with the child strapped at her back for three days.
An
onlooker said: “One man in a commercial bus alerted us yesterday that
the child strapped at the back was motionless.
This attracted some
curious passengers of commercial buses that were trapped in this
unending gridlock. One of the passengers went close to the woman and
shook the baby. Before you knew it, people had gathered around the
woman, wanting to set her ablaze.
But for the timely arrival of
policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad she would have been dead
by now.”
When Newmen approached
the woman , she said: “I am from Umo in Kwale area of Delta State. I
was born in Lagos and I have three children. Nothing is wrong with me.
This child (pointing to the dead child) is my son. He is the last of my
three children. I have a boy and a girl who are in the village. His name
is Chidi and he is five years old.
“He
has been very sick. In fact, he had fever and needed blood transfusion
but I couldn’t afford the money for it.
He died three days ago. Before
he died, we wanted to travel back to the village. My husband stays in
Port Harcourt.”
When
asked to give his husband’s telephone number she said: “The paper where I
wrote his number has been destroyed by rain.
I don’t have any relative
in Lagos. I was living under a staircase in one of the shops located in
Alaba market.
A security man allowed my son and I to sleep there at
night. I didn’t steal any baby neither did I kill any child
“I
was carrying Chidi on my back after he died, only for people to gather
around me this morning and started beating me.
What have I done to
deserve this kind of beating? If not for these policemen, they would
have beaten me to death.”
Asked
what her mission in Lagos was, she said she came to take care of him
here. Some people were of the opinion that she was insane but the Police
said that would be ascertained in the course of investigation
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