Juliana Francis
The baby, who was locked up and starved for 14 days by his biological father in the hope that he would die, has finally been rescued by the Oyo State Government.
According to the Secretary of Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network (ACVPN), Ebenezer Omejalile, helpline from the Oyo State government and other individual started after the exclusive report of the baby’s ordeal in the hands of his father and grandmother by the New Telegraph Newspaper.
It will be recalled that the baby’s mother, Ronke, cried out to members of the public, seeking help for her baby. She had narrated how her husband, Bolarinwa, locked up their four months old baby for 14 days without food, hoping he would die.
According to Ronke, her husband did this because the baby was born deformed. The baby was not only locked for 14 days, she alleged, but she was not allowed to bath him in those days.
She further alleged that her husband’s plan was for the baby to die because he was born without arms, but the baby miraculously survived. The baby is her third child, while other children were born without deformities.
Ronke, who felt that the life of her baby was still being threatened by his biological father, ran to ACVPN, seeking help.
Speaking on the latest development, Omejalile said: “According to reports reaching us, it was due to the New Telegraph’s publication that help came. We learnt that the honourable minister of women affairs federal capital, her excellency, assisted the baby’s mother with a token of N100,000 and also we learnt that the Oyo State government has employed her into the Oyo State Civil Service Commission. We also heard that one of our partners, Femi Ladiga, based in the UK has also rendered some assistance and promised to do more for her. Right now baby and mother are safe, while civil defence are preparing to prosecute father for attempted murder of his child. The child was abandoned for 14 days and locked. He was given poisonous substances including kerosene, but God didn’t allow him to die.”
Ronke had further stated: “I gave birth to a baby boy without hands. My husband and my mother in-law refused to show him love. They tried to kill him by giving him a lot of poisonous things, but all proved abortive. The baby didn't die. And they went ahead and locked him in a room for a good 14 days with the hope that he would die, but God proved himself in his life. Since I decided to take care of the baby, my husband had been misbehaving towards me. I stopped lactating after they took him away from me. Up till now, the baby has been taking formula without any financial support from his dad. They didn't do the naming ceremony for him and they called him a monster. We’re legally married. He left home last week after beating me up. He left without our two children because I refused to comply and agree to what they wanted to do to the baby. He’s a zoologist. I used to work with a micro finance bank, and before I got the job, my husband signed as a guarantor for me. But before this issue, he went there to tell them that he was no longer standing as a guarantor for me. I don’t mind losing the job because I need to be around full time to take care of my baby. My bank job was tasking and time consuming.”
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