FRUIT OF DOOM Woman
throws neighbour’s child into well
By Chioma Okezie-Okeh
Saturday, June 30, 2007
 |
|
| |
Desperate to have her own baby and the proverbial fruit of
the womb, a housewife in Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, has finally
plucked a seeming fruit of doom. She has landed in police
net where she is now responding to posers as to why she tried
to drown a neighbours five-year-old son.
The woman who abducted the kid in broad daylight and dumped
him in a deep well, claimed that a juju priest (babalawo)
advised her to carry out the evil act if she ever wanted to
conceive and have her own baby.
In compliance with the directive of the said babalawo, the
woman, Adijat Shina,25, abducted little Bashiru Suleman, and
threw him into a well in her compound, 18 Ibijoke Street,
Oregun, Lagos.
Bashiru would have been history save for a neighbour who saw
Adijat throwing him into the well. The neighbour, a housewife,
immediately raised an alarm and people came and rescued the
half-drowned Bashiru.
Were she not known in the area, Adijat would have been lynched
by the angry mob that gathered at the scene. However, civility
prevailed and she was taken to Alausa police station alongside
another neighbour, Manifa Musa,21, who was alleged to have
conspired with her to perfect the act. The case has since
been transferred to Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department,
Panti, Lagos.
Fruit of the womb
Looking remorseful while speaking to Saturday Sun, Adijat
said she had tried everything humanly and spiritually possible
to have a baby since her first baby died two years ago. All
her efforts, according to her, haven’t given her "fruit
of the womb". She now decided to confide in her neighbour,
Manifa. According to the Kogi State-born, Adjidat, when she
told Manifa of her plight, she told her that another neighbour,
simply called Iya Bashiru, was the cause of her childlessness.
"Manifa told me that she had consulted a native doctor
at Ibadan and that the Baba recommended that I should kill
the son of Iya Bashiru and bring him for sacrifice. She told
me that the Baba said that 20th of June would be the last
day," she said.
Date with Babalawo
To keep the date with the Babalawo, Adijat, now decided on
the best way to kill Bashiru and take his corpse to Ibadan.
Not having the heart to kill the boy whom she abducted, she
put him inside the bucket used in fetching water in the well
and dumped him in there to drown. While in the process, a
neighbour who was upstairs saw her and raised alarm. The boy
was almost dead when he was rescued.
"I knew that I could not kill him with my hands. I confided
in Manifa that I would prefer throwing him into the well.
She said I should go ahead as time was running out. I now
called Bashiru and threw him into the well. I was still waiting
for him to get drowned so that I would bring the body out
when I heard shouts from people around. I was surrounded and
Bashiru was brought out of the well. Thank God that he did
not die. I believe that I was under a spell," she narrated.
Asked if her husband was aware of the plot, she said that
when the incident happened, her husband abandoned her, as
he had warned her severally to stay away from Manifa whom
he said is devilish.
When Saturday Sun asked 21-year-old Manifa of her role in
the act, she denied having a hand in it, saying that she didn’t
advise Adjat to kill anybody. "I am a mother and I know
the difficulties in child bearing. She knows where she got
that idea. I don’t know why she wants to put me into
trouble," she said.
She threw me into the well
When little Bashiru was asked what happened to him by our
reporter, he simply pointed an accusing finger at Adijat and
said "Na mama junior wey put me for there..", pointing
at the ground to indicate the depth he’d emerged from.
Speaking further, he revealed that Adijat who is known in
the area as "Mama Junior" lured him with a promise
to buy him biscuit.
According to Bashiru: "Mama Junior called me that e want
buy biscuit for me".
"When I went to answer her, she said I should get the
fetcher (bucket) from the well. I was there when she pushed
me into the well," he narrated.
Father of the little boy, Suleman Ibrahim, told Saturday Sun
that Adijat’s claim is baseless. He, however, thanked
God for saving the life of his son. "My wife is a true
Moslem and has nothing to do with anything fetish. I thank
God that my child is a safe. It is only Allah who kept him
alive that would judge these people," he said.
|
