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). ”
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