Controversy trails death of 6-month-old baby kept in couple’s care

By ESTHER ONYEGBULA

Controversy has trailed the death of a 6-months old baby, Chidubem, who reportedly died of malnutrition a month after his mother, Gift was chased out of the house she lived in with her boss, madam Tina Ogbonnaya in the Ajah area of Lagos.

Chidubem died a few hours after news went viral that Madam Tina seized him from his teenage mother over her inability to repay the money incurred on hospital bills during the baby’s delivery.

It was learned that Madam Tina and her husband went to the East for Christmas (December 2020) where they met and convinced 17-year old Gift to leave the village and come to Lagos with them unknown that she was pregnant.

A few months after Gift came to Lagos, the couple discovered that she was pregnant yet accommodated her till she gave birth and also paid for the hospital bills incurred during the baby’s delivery.

However, trouble started sometime in November 2021, when the baby was five months old.

According to Gift, “I was sent on an errand at 2 am (November 2021), immediately I came back, my madam’s husband stopped me from entering the house and told me that I won’t sleep in their house again. He threw my luggage outside without my son, so I slept outside.”

“When I got back to the house the next morning my child was locked in the house alone with a changed padlock”

“I ran immediately to our neighbours for help, they, in turn, contacted Madam Tina and she refused to come and open the door and release the child to me, all effort to get my child proved abortive.”

Madam Tina became very hostile, she said I was owing her 5 million Naira and that I would only get my child when I have paid the said amount. Left with no other option, I began to look for what to do to pay up this debt.

“While all this was going on, I was also informed by neighbours how my son was being kept on a tiled floor bare-bodied, locked in the room.”

Vanguard gathered that when she received the news of how her healthy son had become very pale and malnourished, she got the Police Ajah division involved.

Thereafter, Tina and her husband dropped Chidubem with a neighbour where Gift carried her poor child to the hospital where he reportedly passed on.

Denying the allegations, Tina Ogbonnaya, said unknown to them, Gift was in its very early stage of pregnancy when she begged to follow them to Lagos as their house help.

“After we discovered she was pregnant we took her to the hospital and paid her child delivery bills. Less than a month after delivery, Gift said she needed to travel home to write the WAEC exam which her Uncle registered her for. My husband and I agreed and made money available but requested she took the baby along, a request rejected by Gift with the excuse that she wouldn’t like the village people to know she has a child.”

“After returning from the village where she supposedly went to take the exam, Gift, joined a clique and still refused to take care of her baby claiming she had found a job in a pub house, a situation that made us threaten to throw her out.”

“When the child started showing signs of malnourishment, we reported Gift to the police station where the DPO instructed us to take the baby to the place the mother was usually spotted and leave it there for her; an instruction I disobeyed but instead, took the child to a hospital as well as employed a nurse who I am still owing, to taking care of the child, as heeding the DPO’s instruction wouldn’t serve the child’s interest.

When contacted, the Spokesperson Lagos State Police Command CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu said he is unaware of the case, and that he would get back to Vanguard. As of the time of filing this report, he was yet to. (Sunday Vanguard)