The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP), has been petitioned to intervene in the disappearance of a newborn at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, Lagos State.
The petition was from a non-governmental organisation, Women Advocates’ Research and Documentation Centre.
Recall that a news outlet reported that a policeman, Samuel Ukpabio, was allegedly accused of snatching an infant from a woman, Fortune Obafuoso.
On Friday, December 23, 2022, the mother narrated at the SCID how she was arrested with her newborn on claims that she wanted to sell the baby. She said the baby was forcefully taken from her and handed to a woman in a ministry in the state.
She went further to state that the police officer handed her a sum of N185,000 and made threats to her. She said the policeman stated that he was not going to return the baby to her.
The Founding Director, WARDC, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, said her organisation petitioned NAPTIP because of the circumstances surrounding the baby’s disappearance
The petition read, “Our client has been denied her right to family life and support. Her reproductive rights as a mother have also been impacted. As a mother of a newborn baby, she has been denied the bond with her new baby. We hereby posit that our client’s right to the dignity of human person as stipulated under Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution as amended was debased, based and demeaned.
“The said officer released our client (Obhafuoso), offered her N15,000 to order a ride home and thereafter threatened her never to show up or demand the whereabouts of the baby and that the government will take responsibility for the baby.
“The officer, Mr Samuel, requested our client’s account number and forwarded the sum of N170,000 for her to take care of herself. This action of the unsolicited money transfer points to a suspicion that the baby has been sold.
“In view of this, we passionately appeal for the intervention of your esteemed office to investigate this matter to bring the culprits to book.”
The state police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the policeman and two other women have been arrested.
