₦airaland Forum

What could make an 11-year-old girl bury her aunt's baby alive? That's the puzzle which residents of a Lagos settlement, called Aboru, are trying to figure out. The story of Shekinat, the girl in the eye of the storm, raises curiosity, reports SAMUEL AWOYINFA



(L: R) Shekinat, Usnah and Mr. & Mrs. Badmus


In what seems to be a scene from a horror movie, 11-year-old girl, Shekinat, on Sunday November 14, buried her aunt's baby, 18-month old Usnah, in a shallow pit beside a soak-away pit in an uncompleted building in Aboru, Agbado/Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, Lagos.

Usnah, a baby girl, was in that pit for four days, hanging between an opening space between the excavated pit and the soak-away wall, with her head acting as a hook that suspended her body. The whole neighbourhood of Pipeline Road and its environs were said to have been thrown into confusion as the sad news of the missing girl spread like wild fire during the harmattan.

The parents of the baby, Mrs. Barakat Badmus and Mr. Nurudeen Badmus, were simply inconsolable as they searched the bush and isolated buildings around their residence on 19, Pipeline Road, Aboru, looking for their only child.

She was later found in a pit, covered with leaves and rags, four days after the baby had been missing. When Usnah was finally found in an uncompleted building beside her parents' abode, her parents were apprehensive. Was she still alive? If yes, in what state of health would she be by now? Questions; and more questions, begging for answers! Mercifully, dark-skinned Usnah was alive! However, she has suffered bruises in both ears, which portrayed the position she stayed for those four agonising days, at the mercy of the elements.

How did Shekinat perform this wicked act? Badmus said that on that particular Sunday, himself, his wife and baby went to bed around 9:00pm, while Shekinat was left in the sitting room, which also served as her sleeping space.

The first episode that showed that the girl was up to some mischief was said to have happened some minutes after they retired to bed. Badmus told SUNDAY PUNCH, "Shekinat came towards the door of our bedroom, and was trying to enter when I challenged her. She said that we did not close the door properly and that she only wanted to close it firmly.

"She came the second time and gave another flimsy excuse. It wasn't until around 11:00pm when my wife wanted to breastfeed the baby that we discovered the baby was no longer on the bed with us."

The Badmuses and their neighbours all trooped out that night looking for Usnah. They searched till midnight, yet there was no baby like Usnah in sight.

All this while, Shekinat was also said to have denied knowing anything about the whereabouts of the baby. According to Badmus, Shekinat was only punishing her aunt for rebuking her for her misdemeanor.

On the Saturday preceding the day of the incident, Badmus discovered that a sum of N800 was missing where he kept it in his trousers pocket. He had asked Shekinat about the missing money, but she denied ever knowing anything about it. But later, he said, Shekinat and one of her friends in the neighbourhood, named Basirat, came forward to say they had found the money under the bed.

Shekinat's aunt, Barakat, who was away when the incident involving money happened, was said to have reprimanded Shekinat by giving her some strokes of the cane. Badmus told our correspondent that perhaps that stealing Usnah was the only way she could get back at her aunt for rebuking her.

The search for the baby continued till Wednesday, when she was said to have been discovered in an uncompleted building next to their residence.

"We had reported the case at two police stations. We reported at Oke-Odo police station and one other one around here," Badmus informed.

Usnah was said to have been found around 1:00pm, already weak and tired. She was later taken to a hospital, Yaks Healing Centre, on 7B, Ola Mummy Street, Aboru, which is about 500 metres from her parents' residence.

When our correspondent visited the hospital on Wednesday evening, the doctor was treating her, with her parents and other relations surrounding her bed. She was put on a drip, following which she fell into a deep sleep. The doctor and the nurses pleaded that she be left alone to rest.

The landlords and residents could only exclaim: "It is only God that could do this (that is, sustain the child for four agonising days without food or water)." Her parents, who are staunch Muslims, could not agree less.

"I thank God that no dangerous reptiles bit her within those four days. Besides, heavy rains fell on Monday and Tuesday; so, her being alive is simply a miracle," her father stated.

Another visible unsavoury experience Usnah suffered is that her body and hair were covered with mud.

Badmus told our correspondent on Wednesday that it took profuse pleading from him and his wife before Shekinat, who they brought in to live them only a month ago, confessed that she took the baby and gave her to someone living on the same street with them.

"It took a lot of pleading and cajoling before Shekinat confessed that she gave the baby to a man living across the road," he said.

And that man was Mr. Murtala Osaye, who is the landlord of 10, Pipeline Road, in the same Aboru. But Shekinat changed her story 24 hours later, exonerating Osaye of the crime and mentioning an imaginary young man dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans trousers.

But that wasn't before Osaye has been detained at Oke-Odo Police Station for almost 48 hours over the incident.

"I was arrested by the men of Oke-Odo police station on Monday and released on Tuesday," Osaye told SUNDAY PUNCH at his residence on Wednesday, expressing his frustration at not being able to slaughter his Sallah ram and celebrate with members of his household.

He further told our correspondent that the policemen searched his house and did not find anything incriminating there.

Shekinat added another dimension to her bag of lies when she allegedly said that "the young man to whom she handed the baby disappeared as soon as he collected Usnah from her."

The 61-year Osaye, who is a landlord in the area, said he didn't know Shekinat until she told lies against him and he was arrested.

Narrating how the baby was found, Badmus said that it was on a second thought that he and an Islamic cleric, who came to offer prayers for the family on the sad incident, went to the uncompleted building, where they heard agonising shrieks from the direction of the soak-away.

"We had to break some portion of the soak-away before I could lift my baby out of the hole," Badmus recounted with smiles demonstrating his relief.

Usnah's mother, Barakat, said that Shekinat was her elder sister's daughter and that she did not deserve the kind of torture the girl gave her. "I never knew I had committed a crime by correcting her. Again, I never treated her badly," she said with a tinge of regrets.

Shekinat is said to have history of bad stories trailing her. Badmus explained that she was said to have thrown into the bush the handsets and keys of another aunt of hers in Ibadan when that aunt reprimanded her for untoward behavior.

At press time, Shekinat was still being held at Oke-Odo police station. The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, when contacted on Thursday on the matter said: "I'm aware of the incident at the Oke-Odo police station, but I cannot comment on it now. I am on my way to attend a meeting on the Island (Lagos Island)."

http://odili.net/news/source/2010/nov/21/856.html

I feel say the girl get small kpianse (craft)

Terrible things.
One of the disadvantages of having a kid as a child minder.what triffle excuse to attempt taking a life.

That 11yrs old need to be stoned to death Good Lord What kind of child is that. A devil in the form of human.

@ rokiatu
u harsh oh. (laughing)

Abeg somebody should tell me what the police would do with the little girl, since she is already in their custody. MGHU

OMG thiis girls heart is evil!!!!, how comes she planed this alone? Thé problem is that thé police CAN only keep her for more interview, they CAN imprison hher as she is still a teenage. I think she should return to her mother or else she Will commit more evil.

JOKYTECH:
I feel say the girl get small kpianse (craft)

, u be Waferian?? Thé word (KPIANSE) Côme from waffi, I feel u shall.

, u be Waferian?? Thé word (KPIANSE) Côme from waffi, I feel u shall.
[quote][/quote]Original Wafirian to the core.

For wafi, this kind pikin na heavy WISO

She's a real witch. Where is that ukpabio woman?

Its just unfathomable how much evil can reside in the mind of such a young person. If we have a sound juvenile detention facility in this country, she should be sent there and when she's of age, she should be transferred to a real prison. She must never be allowed to mingle with people henceforth.

Maybe just a desperate act of a little girl who has been handed around like a slave and faced so much rejection and harsh treatment.
Has that little girl ever known love in her life?
She needs help.

mutter:
Maybe just a desperate act of a little girl who has been handed around like a slave and faced so much rejection and harsh treatment.
Has that little girl ever known love in her life?
She needs help.

I kind of agree.
The scenario isnt hard to picture.The couple cuddles and plays with their little baby while they scream and beat her at any slightest error,she dresses inrags while new baby gets new stuffs,show no appreciation whatsoever to her. . . creating unknowingly a hatred in the heart of the rejected child and their baby.
What she did is wicked and evil but at this stage,keeping her in police custody wont do her much good.She needs love.

I agree with Mutter and Ifyalways.

No matter what the little girl has been passing through, I still think she is too small to have such a heart.
If we observe life, we would discover that adults are more prone to depression compared to children. Children doesnt really keep things in mind to a great extent.
The child here has a devilish heart, considering the things she had done in the past and now the present. Even adults with their wicked heart may not go to this extent

jokytech,
why do you think people use children as soldiers in some countries. They do not know the implication of their acts or even what death is.
The couple belong behind bars for abuse and child labour.

JOKYTECH:
I feel say the girl get small kpianse (craft)

The girl would be 21years old now since she buried the baby when she was 11 years old (2011)

plappville:
I

I hope you are hale and hearty? Hope coroner isn't making life though

It is probably due to the parents' behaviour with the 11 year old. She likely felt neglected due to the presence of the baby.

That is why it is always good to behave nicely to your children and to show equal love to all of them. I am sorry to say that Yoruba parents especially, are not very good at nurturing a sense of equality, kindness and emotional intelligence in their children. They are also often too prone to be harsh and to speak rudely to their children just because they can. And the cane is never very far away from their hands.

Or what would make a young mother tell a two year old kid; "shut up joor or I will slap your face" while the child is trying to talk to her on the way to school? Happened in my presence this morning.

If you are frustrated please don't have children. You are only breeding a future generation of psychos.

MadelnNigeria:
The girl would be 21years old now since she buried the baby when she was 11 years old (2011)

Interesting view.

Curious to know what became of her.

RisenPhoenix:
It is probably due to the parents' behaviour with the 11 year old. She likely felt neglected due to the presence of the baby.

That is why it is always good to behave nicely to your children and to show equal love to all of them. I am sorry to say that Yoruba parents especially, are not very good at nurturing a sense of equality, kindness and emotional intelligence in their children. They are also often too prone to be harsh and to speak rudely to their children just because they can. And the cane is never very far away from their hands.

Or what would make a young mother tell a two year old kid; "shut up joor or I will slap your face" while the child is trying to talk to her on the way to school? Happened in my presence this morning.

If you are frustrated please don't have children. You are only breeding a future generation of psychos.

Na you be this?

Nice.

The baby that survived the burial too will also be 12years old now since this is 2020

bukatyne:
Interesting view.

Curious to know what became of her.

I want to dedicate this thread to OiOi
I read your post and a part of me feel sorry for whatever is troubling you... Hold on and be strong with your mental health.

No matter what Life is phases... That baby survived 4 days of hunger and trummer

MadelnNigeria:
The baby that survived the burial too will also be 12years old now since this is 2020

True.

bukatyne:
Na you be this?

Nice.

What do you mean? Didn't you believe me before when I said I'm a great husband and an even better father?

Just because I never take poo from women doesn't mean I'm a bad family man. That is a false feminist theory.