The one-day old baby boy that was reportedly stolen on Monday at Oke-Iyinmi Health centre, Ado-Ekiti, has been found alive by the State Police Command and handed to the parents.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday, the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Eribo said after the command received a distress call about the missing baby on Monday, his men swung into action and caught Deborah Ayeni through CCTV camera in a popular supermarket .
Deborah Ayeni, 34 years old, while speaking with journalists, confessed to have stolen the baby to replace her lost pregnancy.
Deborah, confessed to wrap clothes in her belly to fake pregnancy to sustain her relationship with her husband who based in the United Kingdom since 2024 after their introduction, saying she didn’t want to loose the supposed husband, reason why she didnot notify him about the miscarriage.
Her words, “I stole the baby because I needed him when I got to the Hospital, I met them there, we were joking with the baby and I left with it after a while.
“I was pregnant last year before my husband travelled to UK but I had miscarriage in March this year but I didn’t tell my husband that I lost the pregnancy.
“I’m not legally married yet but I did my introduction last year, I was thinking if I tell my husband that I lost my pregnancy, maybe he would leave me, this is my first time of stealing a baby.
“I was not on admission when I went there, I pretended to have pregnancy by packing clothes in my stomach.
“I was playing with the mother on Sunday morning, we started playing because I understood Hausa language. Her husband told me to help him stay with the kid while he went out to get something. I stole the Baby around 4: 00am and I saw Bike ten minutes thereafter”.
The father of the Child, Mustapha Aliyu, 29 said he didn’t expect such dastardly act to emanate from Deborah, whom he described as someone who were very jovial with him the day her wife delivered the baby boy.
Aliyu said though he didn’t know her but she was also in the Hospital on Sunday on a claim to had come for delivery, only to carry out the operation at the time he entrusted her with supervision.
He mentioned that she had left the Health Centre at a time to another hospital on Sunday, insinuating that she might have went there to scout before finally carrying out the operation at Oke-Iyinmi Health centre.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police has handed the baby over to the parents while the Culprit remains in their custody.