The Ondo State Police Command has apprehended two individuals in connection with the disappearance of a newborn baby and the baby’s placenta in Isua, the headquarters of Akoko South-West Local Government. The arrested suspects are identified as a 40-year-old herbalist named Akinjise Ifeoluwa and a 66-year-old grandmother of the missing baby, Oyewole Margaret.
According to Mrs. Funmilayo Odunlami, the Police Public Relations Officer for the state, the baby and placenta went missing while the mother was unconscious after giving birth. The incident was reported on December 1, 2023, as a suspected murder case.
The police statement reads, “On the 1st of December 2023, a case of suspected murder was reported at Isua Division that one Oyewale Oluwaseun, who just gave birth, couldn’t give a satisfactory account of her baby’s whereabouts.”
The complainant, Oyewale Oluwaseun, reported that her sister, who had been pregnant for nine months, claimed the baby had died and had been buried with the assistance of their mother without informing other family members.
Further investigations revealed that Oyewole Margaret had entrusted the care of her daughter to a native doctor and self-proclaimed prophet, Akinjise Ifeoluwa. The mother of the missing baby disclosed that Akinjise had instructed her to kill the baby.
The statement continued, “On the day of delivery, her mother and Akinjise were constantly communicating through the phone, and the prophet ordered her mother to block the child’s nostrils to enable the baby to die, as it is an abomination for the baby to be alive because it will lead to the death of the lady.”
The mother was informed later that the baby had died, and both the baby and placenta were buried. However, upon investigation, the purported burial site yielded no trace of the baby or the placenta.
