8–day-old baby drugged, dumped in uncompleted building
•Mum says it was excess luggage
By Vincent Ukpong Kalu(vin@sunnewsonline.com)
Saturday, May 16, 2009


If Nkechinyere Kanu, 28, an apprentice hair dresser in Lagos was actually the mother of eight-day old baby boy drugged and dumped in an uncompleted building, she must not have considered the biblical injunction that says children are the heritage of God.

Last March 19, Amangwu women in Arochukwu, Abia State were shocked to their marrows when one of them stumbled on a baby boy wrapped with a skirt, dumped in an uncompleted building and covered with cassava leaves.

Some of the women opened their mouths while some held their hands on their heads and others strapped their hands across their chests in bewilderment over a mother’s callousness to his baby.

With this shocking discovery and the need to save the baby that was still breathing, the women went to Amuvi Model Health Centre and told the nurses of the development and the need for them to see what they could do to save the baby.

The Chairman of the council, Mazi Chibuike Jonas was informed of the ugly development and directed the maternity to take good care of the baby until he returns from his journey. When he returned and was given a report of the baby, he was pleased and promised to take care of him.

Asleep for three days
For three days the baby was brought to the centre, he didn’t open his eyes or cry. He was brought on March 19 and never opened his eyes till 22nd after concerted efforts made by the doctor and nurses to save him. The three days sleep was as result of two tablets of phenegan administered on him by the mother. The only sign of life in him was his breathe. The baby was literally dead until midnight of March 22. He had started having running nose. Because of will power to survive, the nurses at the health centre named him Destiny.

Police come in
After some days when the baby was back to life, policemen came to the maternity and demanded that the baby be handed over to them on the order of the Divisional Police Officer. The matron was bold enough to tell them that it was not proper to do that considering the frail state of the baby. Moreso, it will not be right to do so without informing the people that handed him over to them. The policemen went and saw the baby.

After some days, the police resurfaced with a woman who claimed to be the mother of the baby. This happened when Jonas was around. The lady was asked some questions and the answers she gave were not convincing. Jonas directed the police to arrest her and carry out investigations to determine the veracity of her claims. He equally directed the doctor to carry out some examination on her.

I am the mother
Nkechinyere claimed that she lives at 7, Ijegun, Ijegun Akin Joe and gave birth to the baby on March 11, 2009 at Zion Hospital, Ijegun Satellite Town. She said her husband’s name is Kingsley Ogar from Cross River State.

According to her, after some disagreement with her husband she decided to return to her village to stay with her uncle since her parents were dead. She left Lagos with her two kids - a little girl of about four and her baby who may just be two days old then. She arrived her village on March15 while the baby was picked on the 19th. According to her, the last time she visited home was 2002 when her mother died. Her father died earlier.

When she got to her village, the community had razed her uncle’s house.
The community had accused the uncle of being evil and visited him with jungle justice. He was accused of raping a teenage girl and used a swab to collect the blood from the girl’s private part. The community alleged he was to use the blood for ritual purposes and in anger razed his house.

Nkechinyere told Saturday Sun that “it was when I got home that I learnt my uncle and the community had misunderstanding and they demolished his house. I got to my uncle’s house and saw the ruins of the house. When I asked around they pretended not to know and instead threatened to visit my uncle’s sin on me.”

As a result of the threat, she decided to throw away her child who had constituted an excess luggage to her in order to take care of herself. If she wanted to reinvent what Moses’ mother did in Egypt by dropping him at the bank of the river in order to save the life of her son then Nkechinyere went beyond the line by drugging the baby.

As she was roaming the village, the youth leader of the community said a day before the baby was picked, he saw Nkechinyere visit a drug shop to buy two tablets of phenegan which she must have administered on the baby. The driver who brought her from Aba confirmed that she was with a 4-year-old kid and a baby.

The okada man that carried her on the day the baby was dumped said the four-year-old girl with Nkechinyere was asking her mother about the baby. He said he didn’t understand what the little girl was asking her mother until the issue broke out.

It was a mistake
As she was wailing uncontrollably, Nkechinyere said she wanted her child back. She admitted that it was a great mistake. “Please pardon me. It was a mistake. I want my baby back. My parents are dead. My mother was the last to die in 2002. I had misunderstanding with my husband and decided to come home. I had to drug and dump the baby because of the manner the villagers were threatening to kill me over their disagreement with my uncle. The name of my husband is Kingsley Ogar from Cross River State.”

She was sobbing all through and unable to answer most of the questions put to her.
When asked how the boy would see him if he grows up and hears how she treated him, she said he would regard her as wicked mother.

Na wa oh. Before I clicked on the link I said this would not happen in Nigeria. Low and behold it is even a married mother. Na wa oh

Speechless.

It's not COMPULSORY to have children if you don't want them.

Thank God the baby is alive.

FL Gators:

Speechless.

It's not COMPULSORY to have children if you don't want them.

Exactly.

aww.  i remember there was a little stream beside my school and we saw a baby dumped in the stream, the baby must have been placed in the water very early and looked really pale because it spent too much time in water and not sure id dead or alive, we called our teachers and some staff went and called the police, meanwhile dogs started feeding on it, we chased the dogs but dint go, we watched as the dogs devoured the baby  i still remembered vividly, some locals said they saw a young lady early in the morning with a basket full of clothes but could hear a baby crying but never thought shes on a mission

It is a sad thing people do thi
absurd thing.

Nevertheless, I feel for what
people especially women go
through that are not being
said.

Thank God the baby is doin'
great.

Let's all try and give a helping
hand in our own little ways to
those that need us.

Thank God for the life of the baby

How can he be literally dead when he was breathing?
You are not dead until your brain says so. . .

kandiikane:

How can he be literally dead when he was breathing?
You are not dead until your brain says so. . .

my dear its the heart. its when the heart stop beating that the person be truly dead. ever heard of the term brain dead? the brain stop functioning but vital organs will still be. if the baby were to be brain dead, there's nothing anyone can do, he'll just keep breathing till his heart stops.
i salute the baby's will to live. it was only tiny doses of this same phenegar that a daycare owner administered to babies under her watch and one baby never woke up . what makes people do despicable things to innocent babies

^^^ok, you just contradicted yourself. . .It cannot be the heart if you are referring to brain dead. . .If your brain is dead there is no possible way for you to come back because of the lack of brain activity. . None of your organs will be on unless they put you on life support. . .



Did you know doctors can stop the heart when operating on it? It does not mean the person is truely dead

Abia state self.

Wouldnt it have been better to abort the child than make the child go through all these.

That child might never be normal in life

kandiikane:

^^^ok, you just contradicted yourself. . .It cannot be the heart if you are referring to brain dead. . .If your brain is dead there is no possible way for you to come back because of the lack of brain activity. . None of your organs will be on unless they put you on life support. . .

if the brain is not alive to tell the heart and lungs to stop functioning, they still will. only that the person will never wake up. if connected to a life-support machine, s/he can keep breathing for years.

Did you know doctors can stop the heart when operating on it? It does not mean the person is truly dead

yes. it means the person is clinically dead not truly dead.

dominique:

if the brain is not alive to tell the heart and lungs to stop functioning, they still will. only that the person will never wake up. if connected to a life-support machine, s/he can keep breathing for years.

yes. it means the person is clinically dead not truly dead.

Are you saying that the heart and lungs will still function if the brain is dead? Or are you saying with life support because that is what I referred to?. . .
You just will not survive if your brain is dead on its own. . .

If the person will die within minutes if the life support is not attached then regardless of the life support it is still death because there is just no activity in your brain what so ever and the only thing the life support does is to keep your heart pumping without you thinking any thoughts absolutely nothing at all. . .Its like your heart is just pumping but you are a complete blank. . .

Oh well!
Should we be surprised? Na only Abia state this kain tori fit commot! Ho-ha!

[size=20pt] Last March 19, Amangwu women in Arochukwu, Abia State were shocked to their marrows when one of them stumbled on a baby boy wrapped with a skirt, dumped in an uncompleted building and covered with cassava leaves[/size]

At least, she did not commit 'abortion' of a fetus!





The reason I always puke when I see Igbo names that have 'chi' in them.  They commit the most heinous crimes unknown to  mankind. SACRILEGE! See the child's mother's name?

[size=20pt]

Nkechinyere

Some of the women opened their mouths while some held their hands on their heads and others strapped their hands across their chests in bewilderment over a mother’s callousness to his baby.

[/size]

Blessed are the barren. . . for they shall remain incomplete women. . . .Iseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Ogechi kan nma Nkechinyere'm o!

Tufiakwa!

Thank God for 'ashewo' work instead of 'ritualism' in the name of 'the lord'!

kandiikane:

Are you saying that the heart and lungs will still function if the brain is dead? Or are you saying with life support because that is what I referred to?. . .
You just will not survive if your brain is dead on its own. . .

If the person will die within minutes if the life support is not attached then regardless of the life support it is still death because there is just no activity in your brain what so ever and the only thing the life support does is to keep your heart pumping without you thinking any thoughts absolutely nothing at all. . .Its like your heart is just pumping but you are a complete blank. . .

i believe its more than minutes. i've heard of more than one case where the person had been declared brain dead and the people kept breathing for hours till they gave up. if they had been hooked up to life-support machines, they would have gone on for years.

^^There is a difference between brain dead and brain damage and I believe that person must have had brain damage-most likely  the area which controls breathing was still active. . .

whiteroses:

aww. i remember there was a little stream beside my school and we saw a baby dumped in the stream, the baby must have been placed in the water very early and looked really pale because it spent too much time in water and not sure id dead or alive, we called our teachers and some staff went and called the police, meanwhile dogs started feeding on it, we chased the dogs but dint go, we watched as the dogs devoured the baby i still remembered vividly, some locals said they saw a young lady early in the morning with a basket full of clothes but could hear a baby crying but never thought shes on a mission