Olaide Adekunle, 33, was arrested by men from the Ogun State Police Command for selling her 18-month-old baby for N600,000 to an unidentified buyer.
According to a statement issued by the command’s spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the suspect was apprehended after the woman’s husband, Nureni Rasaq, filed a complaint at Sango divisional headquarters.
Rasaq reported that his wife, Olaide Adekunle, left home for Lagos on March 15 with their baby girl, Moridiat Rasaq, but did not return.
He stated further 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 arrested.
“On interrogation, the suspect confessed that she has sold the baby to someone in Lagos at 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 threatening to deal decisively with her.
“It was consequence 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,” the police spokesman said.
Meanwhile the state acting Commissioner of Police, DCP Babakura Muhammed, has directed that the suspect be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Departments, SCID, for further investigation and possible recovery of the baby.