The grandmother of a 17-year-old girl identified simply as Favour has buried her daughter’s newborn baby alive in the Ogombo area of Ajah, Lagos State.
Freelanews gathered that when the grandmother observed that the teenager had got pregnant, she became angry and did everything possible to hide the pregnancy from members of the public.
After a while, it was learnt the duo’s neighbours started suspecting that the minor was pregnant and thereafter drew the attention of the teenager’s mother to their discovery.
Bent on keeping the pregnancy a secret, the grandmother reportedly denied the neighbours’ claim.
In a trending video clip posted by a resource manager, Peace Ighodaro, on the X.com handle, @peace_igho, the minor, while being questioned by some neighbours in the video, said she gave birth to the baby without assistance from anybody.
She said, “I was the one that called my mother after I gave birth. When I gave birth, I did not know what was going on.”
Ighodaro, in a message attached to the post she made on Monday, alleged that the grandmother retrieved the baby from her daughter, left her premises and later told the minor that the baby did not survive.
She also accused the grandmother of ending the baby’s life despite people offering to adopt the newborn.
The post read in part, “A girl called Favour in Ogombo, Ajah, gave birth last Saturday, but her mother snatched the baby from her arms and brutally murdered it. The mother had been in denial about the teenager’s pregnancy, even after a test confirmed it. She went to great lengths to hide the baby bump, tying it up and keeping the teenager isolated at home.
“When a witness discovered what had happened, the mother initially denied the pregnancy. But after some prodding, she admitted the truth. The teenager, still reeling from the trauma, revealed she had given birth in the restroom and informed her mother, who callously told her the baby didn’t survive.
“The mother was taken to the police station, leaving the teenager alone and vulnerable. What’s even more heartbreaking is that someone had offered to adopt the baby, but the grandmother refused, choosing instead to end its life.”
A source, who spoke anonymously to our correspondent for fear of victimisation, said a neighbour confessed to watching as the grandmother buried the baby alive, adding that when he rushed out to retrieve the baby from the grave, the baby had died.
“One of the neighbours said he saw when the grandmother was burying the baby in the backyard of their residence but when he rushed out to dig the grave to rescue the baby, only the corpse was recovered.
“It’s disturbing why the neighbour chose to watch till the baby was buried before deciding to intervene. Even before the baby was buried, the neighbour said he saw the baby was still crying and also saw when the grandmother was digging the ground,” the source said.
When contacted for his reaction, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the case, noting that the grandmother had been arrested.
Hundeyin said, “The grandma has been arrested; the mother heard her baby crying after the grandmother took the baby from her. The grandmother later returned to tell her that the baby had died.
“Investigation revealed that she buried the baby alive and the baby had died when neighbours dug the grave to rescue it. It was premeditated; the mother of the baby was 17 years old and she is in our custody not as a suspect but to be taken care of.”
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
