Residents of Nina, a community in Bagadaza area of Gombe, the capital city of Gombe State, woke up recently to the shocking discovery of a day-old baby thrown into a pit latrine by her mentally ill mother about one and a half hours after she was born.
By the time a young woman in the neighbourhood found the innocent tot crying for life, its entire body was not only soaked in faeces, it was covered by ants and maggots.
Sources at Nina neighbourhood told our correspondent that Baby Destiny Godswill
was discovered in the pit latrine by one Mercy Musa Galadima, a 28-year-old daughter of a resident named Monica Musa. Mercy was said to have been asked by her mother to clean the bathroom/toilet for her uncle and his wife who spent the night with them so the couple could have their bath before embarking on their journey to Jos.
But as soon as Mercy entered the bathroom/toilet, she heard the cry of the baby but thought it was a cat that had fallen into the pit toilet. Mercy immediately called the attention of her mother who on getting to the scene realised that it was the cry of a baby.
Monica Musa immediately mobilised her family members to break the pit latrine and rescue Baby Destiny with her nose, mouth and ears covered with faeces, maggots and ants.
Monica immediately cut off the umbilical cord, washed the baby and took her to the hospital for medical attention.
Monica, who named the baby Destiny, told our correspondent in an interview that immediately she heard its voice in the pit latrine, she knew it was the cry of a baby.
She said: “When I heard the baby cry, I told myself that this is a life and it must be saved. So I mobilised my children who broke the pit and went into it to rescue the baby.
“The baby’s cry sounded like a cry for help and I felt that compelling pressure to urgently do something to rescue her.”
Baby Destiny’s mentally deranged mother, 26 years old Vivian Usman, was said to be a neighbour who only came home occasionally to pass the night in her premises. She was said to have been impregnated by her boyfriend identified simply as Daniel.
Destiny was said to be Vivian’s fourth child though she had earlier lost one of them. Destiny’s elder sister was said to have died of starvation because Vivian, the third of Usman Alhaji’s eight children, failed to breastfeed her.
Eight of Alhaji’s grandchildren under the age of six are living with him in his three-room apartment at Kushi, a village of Filiya in Shongom Local Government Area, Gombe State. Kushi shares border with Koma village in Taraba State.
Musa depends only on farming to sustain his family of eight grandchildren and a daughter, Vivian, who are living with him. He does not enjoy the best of health and reeks heavily with local gin.
Immediately baby Destiny was rescued, Monica suspected that Vivian was the mother, having previously confronted her that she was pregnant but she denied it.
Asked about the baby, Vivian confessed that it belonged to her and was shocked to find that it was still alive. However, her unstable mental health was evident as she laughed repeatedly while answering the questions put to her.
Following the shocking discovery, Madam Monica sent for Alhaji (Vivian’s father), who on arrival was shocked by the incident.
He said: “I couldn’t believe what I saw. But I am helpless because I cannot take custody of the new baby.
“I already have eight grandchildren dumped with me by their mothers. One of them is five years old Jessica whose mother dropped with me and has never looked back for almost six years now.”
Consequently, Alhaji agreed to live Baby Destiny in the care of Monica in the interim, particularly because Vivian could not breastfeed the new baby.
“So in order for her not to suffer and die like the previous one, I decided to live her with Madam Monica Musa,” Alhaji said.
But as the story of a baby found in pit latrine spread in the area, it attracted the attention of a staff member of Gombe State Ministry of Women Affairs who reported the matter to the ministry.
Two weeks after her birth and rescue from the pit latrine, officials of the ministry visited the home of Madam Monica and forcibly took the baby from her, saying that it belonged to the state government.
The action of the government officials attracted the attention of Pastor Joshua Kadala, who accompanied madam Monica to the ministry where the baby was detained and allegedly sold to a family at Federal Low Cost area in Gombe without the knowledge or approval of Madam Monica and the baby’s grandfather, Alhaji, who had asked that the baby be kept in Monica’s care.
Monica said: “When we got there on that day, they told me that I should come back for the baby in five days time because they wanted to take her to the hospital for medical treatment.
“They said if I wanted the baby to be in my custody, I had to fill a form requesting for her and the state government would grant the approval.
“I was shocked when I went back five days later to discover that the Director of Social Welfare in the ministry, one Mrs Asabe Adamu Malami, had already filled the form and put the baby in her custody.
“Later, we learnt that the baby had been sold to a woman at Federal Low Cost without the knowledge or approval of the parents.
“I feel so bad because I rescued the baby and I know that God has a purpose for her life; that was why He used me to save her life.
“After we broke the concrete pit latrine, my daughter went into it to rescue the baby. So, how can government officials now come and forcibly take the baby from us only to sell her to somebody without respect for human life?”
Pastor Kadala, who had been following Monica through her battle to secure the custody of the child, said it was unfortunate that government officials could be so callous in the way Monica and baby Destiny were treated.
He said: “I was particularly not happy at the way the Ministry of women Affairs handled the case of Baby Destiny, and even more surprised that rather than being grateful to this woman for saving a life, she is being treated like a criminal.”
Counsel to Alhaji and Madam Monica, Barrister Wunfe John Nimfas, in a petition to the Department of State Security (DSS) office in Gombe against the state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Naomi Awak; the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Benjamin Wabida; Director Child, Mr. Marcus Joseph; Director Social, Mrs. Asebe Adamu Malami and Jerry Sanni Mol’Amboke, a staff of the ministry, accused them of complicity in the act of child trafficking and/or sale of a grandchild of Usman Alhaji in custody of Mrs. Monica Musa.
Nimfas, in the petition, described the incident as a classic case of child trafficking and/or sale of child by government official under the pretence of exercising their statutory power.
He asked the DSS to use its good offices to hurriedly wade into the matter and bring the culprits to book.
“It is our brief and we verily believe that our client’s daughter by name Vivian Usman delivered a baby girl out of wedlock on the 2nd May, 2022 at Bagadaza in Gombe. Thereafter, the said Vivian, who was believe to be suffering from strange and erratic mental insanity, threw the baby into a pit latrine in a house belonging to one of our client Mrs. Monica Musa at Bagadaza.”
He said the attention and concern of Madam Monica, the owner of the house, and other occupants was attracted to the toilet area due to the baby’s voice coming out from the said pit toilet, and having realised that it was a baby, hurriedly broke down the pit toilet and rescued the baby who was wrapped in a sack.
According to him, Monica, with the assistance of a nurse that lived in the area, cut the umbilical cord, washed the baby and rushed her to the hospital for proper medical examination and medication.
He said Monica, being a mother, suspected that Vivian could be the one behind the act, having noticed some changes and therefore summoned her wherein Vivian confirmed that she was the one who delivered and threw the baby into the pit latrine.
“That having found that Vivian is the mother of the child, Mrs. Monica sent for the father of Vivian to come from Kushi of Shongom Local Government of Gombe State.
“That after meeting Vivian’s father with other relations at Bagadaza, Mr. Usman Alhaji entrusted the baby to Mrs. Monica to continue looking after the baby, considering the role played by Mrs. Monica in rescuing and saving the life of the baby, however, pending the whole decision that will be taken by the family as to who will have the custody of the baby.
“That the above decision by our client, Mr. Usman Alhaji, was taken in the best interest of the child, putting into consideration the mental and physical health condition of Vivian, as she cannot take proper care of the baby.”
The petition stated further that soon after Mr. Usman Alhaji left for Kushi, some people who identified themselves as staff of the Gombe State Ministry of Women Affairs came to his client’s
house at Bagadaza and demanded that she should hand over the child to them or risk been arrested by the police.
However, Mrs. Monica refused to hand over the baby to them or cowed by their threat. “Thereafter, the said staff called and asked how much they could offer to Mrs. Monica to release the baby to them. Still, Mrs. Monica remained firm and was never moved by the huge offer.
“Soon after, a staff of Ministry of Women Affairs by name Bitrus Madugu, acting on the instruction of the Director Social, Mrs. Asabe Adamu Malami, came to our client’s house and ceased the baby from our client to the Ministry of Women Affairs. The baby was directly brought to Director Social.
“Our client followed the said Government Staff to Ministry of Women Affairs but was told by Director Social to come back after five (5) days, that the baby would undergo proper medical examination to ascertain her wellness before handing over the baby back to Mrs. Monica. Our client went home with the hope and expectation that the baby would return to her as promised by Director Social.
“That after a week, our client received no call from the Ministry of Women Affairs. However, an Application Form for Child Adoption was brought to her by Jerry Sani which our client filled and submitted same through Mr. Jerry that brought the form to her.
“Three weeks after and without a call or response from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Monica got hint that the baby was already given out for adoption to somebody.
“That sequel to the above, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Women Affairs with Permanent Secretary, Director Child, Director Social, Pastor Joshua Kadala, Apostle Zarma Istifanus and Mrs. Monica Musa.
“At the meeting, Director Social Mrs. Asabe categorically confirmed that it was Honourable Commissioner that directed her to instruct Mr. Jerry to obtain Police Report to the effect that Jerry found the baby in an uncompleted building and that the Commissioner had expressed interest over the baby.”
The petition stated that it was Mr. Jerry who went and furnished the Police with the false information leading to the Police Report issued to the Ministry of Women Affairs.
“Our client, Mr. Usman Alhaji, was also at the Ministry of Women Affairs in company of Pastor Kadala and Mrs. Monica, where he met with the Permanent Secretary, and for a reason best known to Perm. Sec, advised that a written Agreement be executed between Mr. Usman Alhaji and Mrs. Monica with regard to the custody of the baby before the baby could be released to them.
“When all entreaties by Mr. Usman Alhaji to get his granddaughter from the Ministry proved abortive, he wrote and demanded the release of his grand- daughter from the Ministry of Women Affair on 9th June, 2022.
“Surprisingly and in another twist, the Perm Sec further directed our clients to obtain a clearance Report from the Nigerian Police before the baby could be released to them. However, after visit to the Police Headquarters Gombe by our client in company of Pastor Joshua Kadala, the Police through 2/i.c Gender confirmed to our clients that it is not within their power to do so.”
The petition also stated that the Police through 2/i.c Gender are equally aware of the fact that Mr. Jerry, acting under the instruction of Director Social Mrs. Asabe, had furnished the Police with false information, leading to the said Police Report issued to the Ministry of Women Affairs. However, nothing was done by the police to bring the culprit to book.
“Our clients in company of Pastor Joshua Kadala went back to the Ministry of Women Affairs from the Police Headquarters and informed them about the position of the Police. But to our client’s greatest surprise, they were told by the Director Child Mr. Joseph Marcus that the child belongs to Government and therefore could not be released to our clients. That the said officials of the Ministry of Women Affairs never disclosed to our client where they took the baby to and who is in custody of the child besides stating that Government owns the child.”
Barrister Nimfas said “it is shocking and highly embarrassing to know from the series of audio conversation recorded that the Honourable Commissioner for Women Affairs, the Permanent Secretary, the Director Child, the Director Social and Mr. Jerry Sani were complicit in either surreptitiously selling the baby or illegally abducting the baby and giving her out by way of adoption to a high profile individual in the society, as our client got the hint that the baby is currently with a woman who resides at Federal Low cost Gombe.
“It is pertinent to point out that since the grand-father to the baby in question is alive and had willingly given the custody of his grand- daughter to Mrs. Monica albeit temporarily, the Ministry of Women Affairs Gombe State cannot therefore seize the baby against the will of her grandfather and Mrs. Monica who rescued the baby and who was taking care of the baby at the instance of the grandfather before the baby was illegally and forcibly seized from Mrs. Monica.
“It is quite unfortunate that instead of the Ministry of Women Affairs to do the right thing and ensure that the baby remains with her blood relations since they are identified, they resorted to all sort of illegality and threat against our clients, threatening possible criminal prosecution should our clients insist on having the baby. In fact, one wonders which offence was committed by our client to warrant being prosecuted by the state. While we condemned in totality the attitude of Miss Vivian for throwing the baby in the toilet after delivery and which is criminal, we equally sympathise with her health condition, both mental and physical, which we believe triggered her action.
“The state may wish to arrest and prosecute Miss Vivian. However, it is expedient and honourable for a responsible government to be more concerned about restoring her mental health condition than arresting and prosecuting an individual with mental insanity.”
When our Correspondent visited the office of the Permanent Secretary Women Affairs in Gombe, he was said to be out of office for a seminar.
Although the Director of Social Welfare, Mrs. Asabe, was on seat, she insisted that she would not violate protocol by talking to the press, adding that only the Permanent Secretary had the right to do so.
After waiting for more than one hour, our correspondent left his number with a staff member of the ministry so that he could be contacted whenever the permanent Secretary was around, but at the time of filing this report there had been no response from the ministry.
At Kushi village, the grandfather of Baby Destiny said all his efforts to get his granddaughter back from the ministry had yielded no result, adding that he was finding it difficult to get transport fare to travel to Gombe to pursue the matter.
According to him, the mental health of Vivian, his daughter and mother of baby Destiny, is a bit stable now because he was using traditional medicine for her.
Apart from being mentally sick, Vivian is also HIV positive and asthmatic. She depends on the ARV drug which she takes once every month at the General Hospital Filiya.
Vivian, looking calm and healthy now, works on her father’s farm to support him in taking care of the eight grandchildren that are living with him.
