The baby’s mother was said to have collected N70,000. Olawole was said to have secretly sold Mrs Idiat Babatunde’s three-week-old baby girl to a childless couple.
The amount agreed on was N300,000, but the couple, Mr and Mrs Ayogbemile, could only raise N136,000.
They, however, promised to pay the balance later. The deal would have gone undiscovered but for the landlord of the Ayogbemiles.
The landlord noticed that Mrs Kemi Ayogbemile, who had never been pregnant, was suddenly nursing a new-born baby girl. The happy woman even introduced the baby as her daughter. The landlord quickly alerted the police.
The case has however become controversial, with the doctor insisting that he paid Idiat N70,000, for the baby.
But Idiat, a Higher National Diploma 2 student of Offa Polytechnic, Kwara State, studying Library and Information Science, denied collecting any sort of payment from Olawole in exchange for her baby. She said: “I delivered the baby on September 5, but because of issues of missing script and clearance, I needed to rush down to my school in Kwara State.
I left for Kwara on September 12. I did not want anything to affect my going for my National Youth Service. I left my baby with the doctor because he and my husband are friends. I know that his wife had just delivered a baby and she would be able to take care of my baby. I never knew he would sell my baby. I trusted him.” Idiat said she could not take the baby to her mother because her was mum was late and her other family members were in Kwara State.
She also could not hand the baby over to the dad, who is based in Port Harcourt, because she was having issues with him and they were already living separate lives.
Ironically, when it was discovered that the baby had been sold, it was the kid’s father, Akinola Babatunde’s family members that first stormed the police station. While Idiat did not hand the baby to this concerned and worried family members before travelling to Kwara is a puzzle. Giving another slant to the story, however, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Joe Offor, said that Idiat sold the baby out of desperation. He said that Idiat had a fall out with her lover and was struggling alone.
He added: “It was an outright sale. Idiat collected the money. The ‘doctor’ said so, but she denied collecting any money from him. The real amount is N300,000. The childless couple was able to raise N136,000. The ‘doctor’ gave Idiat N70,000.” According to Olawole, he gave the baby to the childless couple because he wanted them to mind the baby for Idiat until she returned from school.
He said that the money he collected from the couple was to prepare documents that would empower them to keep the baby until her mother returned.
Mrs. Ayogbemile said: “I’ve known the ‘doctor’ since 2013. He had been treating me because I used to have miscarriages. He called me last year that I should adopt a child but I said no. Soon after, my husband and I had a quarrel and we separated. “The ‘doctor’ called me last week. He said that he had a baby girl for me. I did not know that the baby’s mother was not aware of the deal. The ‘doctor’ said he would prepare papers for us at Alausa, Ikeja.”
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