The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, Ondo State Command on Monday said it has arrested two suspects over the corpse of a "day-old-baby" declared missing at the Ondo State Specialist in Akure.
The Police disclosed that the two suspects who were arrested over the weekend have now been facing investigations at the "B Division" of the State Police Command.
Femi Joseph, the Spokesperson for Police in Ondo State who confirmed the arrest to SaharaReporters said the two suspects have confessed receiving the corpses when they were brought in dead into the morgue of the hospital.
Mr. Joseph said the two suspects who were "mortuary attendants" at the Ondo state government owned hospital were apprehened over the weekend to help the police unravel the puzzle.
"Yes, it is correct- we have arrested them and they are currently here in our custody answering question on what they know about the missing corpse of the baby.
"We arrested the two of them at the weekend, and they confirmed that they are the mortuary attendants at the Ondo State Specialist hospital's morgue.
"Although, we still going on with our investigations and we are ready to see its end but for now we will not like to disclose the names of these arrested two suspects", Mr. Joseph said.
Meanwhile, the father of deceased, Mr. Femi Owonidaun, has protested over the missing corpse of his baby at the state government hospital.
Mr. Owonidaun, who is also a police officer, told SaharaReporters how he brought the corpse of his wife; Mrs. Nike Owonidaun and the dead baby to the hospital's morgue for record.
He explained that his late wife died at the Police Clinic along Alagbaka area of Akure on May 15, 2019 after an operation of "caesarian section" was conducted on her during delivery.
According to him, his wife later died after the operation was conducted as the lifeless baby was brought out with his placenta and while the two corpses were later deposited at the state's specialist hospital morgue.
"You can imagine that after my wife, Nike, died of the operation, we took her corpse and that of the baby with his placenta to the mortuary unit of the Ondo State Specialist Hospital in Akure.
"At the mortuary, they all took the recording of the two deceased after we had already paid the require and neccessary charges.
"On Saturday, it was very surprising when we came there and wanted to pick the corpses for burial, and the attendants could only produced my wife's dead body and was unable to find the corpse of my day old baby.
"Even, the placenta they could not also find it. I discovered these when they finished washing the corpse of my wife after paying them to do so.
"I noticed they put her in the casket that we brought without the corpse of the baby and his placenta too.
"Then, i asked for the corpse of my baby with the placenta. Immediately they replied me and said if I want to see the corpse of my baby and the placenta and if I was not afraid to enter the inner morgue and see the ghost of his death then I should go in but we instited to see it.
"I told them, we have come here to bury the two corpses together and mostly to wrap the baby with the white cloth in my hand and laid him to rest beside his mother.
"But we noticed something seem to be fishing, and we quickly raised the alarm that they must produce the corpse of baby and his placenta", he said.
However, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro, the Ondo State Commissioner for health said that the Police was already handling the case of the missing baby's corpse.
Adegbenro, who was contacted via the telephone by SaharaReporters, noted that authorities of the hospital have confirmed that the two corpses (mother and child) were brought to hospital's morgue.
"The Police has taken up the case, we are awaiting their investigations into the matter while i have also talk to the authorities of hospital to find out how the body of the baby could have been missing from the morgue of the hospital.
"The available records documented at the hospital's mortuary showed that both the mother and her child were 'Brought in Dead' (BID) here".
Our correspondent reported that the sudden disapperance of the day old baby’s corpse from the Ondo State Specialist hospital still remains a mystery to members of the public who are following the puzzle.
Source:Saharareporters
