BUT for mother luck, a hapless toddler simply identified as Darasimi Akinyemi would probably have been sold into the ‘cold hands’ of a surrogate mother or worse still, had her destiny cut short by heartless and quick-wealth seekers in the land who would have used her for money ritual. Perhaps, it was to this end that her abduction by a devil- incarnate neighbour while in the warm curdles of a tired lactating mother who was deeply asleep while the enemy struck was foiled. Information scoped had it that the ugly incident took place at No 55, Oshodi Road, Oshodi, Lagos. According to sources, the mother of the baby girl, Mrs. Banke Akinyemi was though woken up from deep slumber by the noise of her baby’s abduction said she had barely finished breastfeeding her baby when she fell asleep at about midnight only to wake up moments after without her baby by her side. It was the noise outside her apartment that made her raised the alarm in search of her baby only to behold a mammoth crowd outside the house a neighbor identified as Endurance Idama clutching to her hapless baby. Mr. Idama who have been lynched by sympathizers for attempting to abduct the baby was however, saved by Police operatives attached to the Lagos State Taskforce on Special Offences. He was taken to the Bolade office of the Task Force where he admitted that he mistakenly entered Mrs Akinyemi’s apartment under the influence of alcohol maintaining that he did not mean to abduct the baby. The 31 year-old Obiaruku, Delta State born suspected criminal was however, quick to confess that he had had an eye on the mother of the child as a new tenant until he was told that she was a housewife. But the the Chairman of the Lagos State Task Force SP Olayinka Egbeyemi confirmed that the suspect would have been lynched but the quick intervention of his men who were on duty as of the time. According to him, preliminary investigations conducted by the agency revealed that the suspect who stays in the same compound with the mother of the child illegally entered another neighbour’s room at the mid-night to perpetrate the crime adding that the suspect would be transferred to Lagos State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos for further investigations on the directives of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police Mr. Fatai Owoseni.
Narrating how her baby’s abduction was foiled, the 29 year old Ejigbo Osun State born lactating mother said the suspect must have crept into her room around mid-night while she was deeply asleep and took her baby beside her. “It was her cry that woke me up and immediately the suspect dumped the baby and ran outside. If not for the intervention of the operatives of the Lagos State Task Force who were around as of the time, he would have been lynched. I thank the Police for saving my baby.” Meanwhile, the landlady Mrs. Johnson Esther of same address who described the activities of Mr. Idama in the compound as nocturnal said she was surprised when the matter was reported to her adding that the suspect was wont to come home late and usually jumped the gate to enter the compound most of the times. But feigning innocence, Mr. Idama Endurance blamed his act on alcohol adding that he never intended to abduct the child. “I was drunk at a birthday I attended the previous night and when I got home at mid-night I had to jump the gate as I could not locate the gate key so I entered into their room looking for a key to the gate as their door was not locked. Since I moved into the compound a year ago I have been eyeing the mother of the child and when our landlady told me she was 2 months old pregnant then I immediately stayed off. I did not mean to abduct the baby.”