Outraged has greeted the
intervention of an Investigating Police Officer (IPO), identified as Mr Arome,
who, rather than investigate the death of a six-month-old girl, urged the grieving
parents to ‘forgive and forget.’
The baby, Michelle Enenu Onoja, was
said to have died in her school at Abuja, where her mom used to keep her on 11th
of January. The parents alleged that the baby was murdered.
Michelle was registered in the
daycare facility of the international school, which is just a walking distance
from her parents’ home.
The story of how Michelle died has
gone viral since it was shared on social media. The story was shared after the
IPO, rather than commenced a full scale investigation, allegedly told the
grieving parents to forgive the school and forget the case.
The baby’s mother, Mrs Onoja, who
dropped off the baby before leaving for work, said: “At the time of dropping her, there
was nothing wrong with her. She was hale and hearty. At about 2:18pm, I called
the nanny taking over from the first caregiver of the kids at school to know
their welfare so I can go and pick her, she didn't pick the call. At
2:19 pm, I received a call from the school secretary's number, she is a woman,
but it was the voice of a man I heard, asking me to come over to the school.
When I got there, I saw about five women and two men praying over Michelle,
who was in bed. I asked what the matter was, but nobody gave me any response. When
I carried her, I noticed blood stains on her nose and food particles around her
hair and nostrils.”
Mrs Onoja rushed to take the baby to
hospital, but one of the staff said that had already been done. Mrs Onoja was
shocked that Michelle had been taking to hospital without her being notified.
On getting to the Federal Medical
Centre Jabi, Abuja, Michelle was received at the emergency unit and the
doctor attended to her, but to no avail. The doctor remarked that the baby
would have been saved if she had been brought in earlier.
Following the circumstances
surrounding Michelle’s death, Mrs Onoja lodged a complaint at the Divisional
Police Station Apo, where Arome was detailed to investigate the matter.
“Based on the blood stains, I
advised the police to demand for a preview of the CCTV to enable them unraveled
the circumstances surrounding the death of my daughter. To our greatest shock,
Arome demanded for the CCTV on 12th January 2019, but he was told that the
camera has been wiped out,” said Mrs. Onoja.
Since the IPO could not access the CCTV,
the patents decided an autopsy be conducted on Michelle.
The IPO and parents went to FMC Jabi,
where they paid N250, 000 for autopsy test. Mrs. Onoja alleged that she was
informed that officials of the school made attempts to compromise the result of
the autopsy, but was resisted by the hospital.
Mrs Onoja added: “Consequently, when
the result came out,it was discovered that both blood and feeds were oozing out
of the mouth and nose of Michelle. The result also indicated that Michelle died
as a result of asphyxiation. Alarmed by this result, the parents demanded a
full scale investigation from the police with a view to bringing any culprit
who is connected to the gruesome murder of baby Michelle to justice. Rather
than commence full and proper investigation into the matter, Mr Arome suddenly
lost interest in the matter and has since then been pleading that we forgive
and forget about this matter.”
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