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A self-styled doctor, Olawale Omolaja, has been arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly selling a week-old baby without the mother’s consent. He was arrested with the couple, Dele and Radiat Onogbile,  who took the baby, after paying N136,000, as advance. The suspects were nabbed after the couple’s landlady at Mile 12 discovered that the woman had a new born baby without being pregnant. The surprised landlady was said to have notified the Ketu Police Division of the suspicious presence of a new born baby in the couple’s home.

Upon interrogation,  it was discovered that Omolaja, billed the couple N300,000 for the baby, whose mother allegedly kept in his care. The baby’s mother, Idiat Babatunde, claimed she was a student at the Offa Polytechnic in Kwara State. She said she gave Omolaja her baby in order to go and complete her clearance in school, it was gathered that she knew about the sale of her child.

Idiat, 39, alleged that she left the baby in Omolaja’s care because he’s a doctor and a friend to her husband. It was gathered that Idiat collected N70,000 from the 136,000 before leaving for school. She was said to have given the baby up because her supposed husband, Akiola, abandoned her after impregnating her and relocated to Rivers State. Unable to fend for the child a week after it was born, she handed over the baby to Omolaja, who has been the Onogbiles’ doctor since 2009.

It was gathered that the couple’s marriage was at the brink of collapse as a result of childlessness, and that they were separated until the baby was handed over to them on September 14. But Idiat denied giving up her baby or collecting any money, stating that she could not carry the child to school because it would have been difficult for her to cope.

She claimed she still had a missing script and had no place of her own, adding that she always called Omolaja to check on the child. She said: “I gave birth in September 5 and on September 13, I gave the baby to Dr. Omolaja because I needed to go back to school in order to complete my clearance so that I can go for NYSC with the next batch.

“I gave him the baby because I was having issues with my husband and we have been separated. I planned to spend two weeks in school and two weeks in Lagos. “But that same week that I went to school, I received a call that I should come and identify my baby at Ketu police station. I was surprised because I did not know what my baby could be doing in Ketu. “I stay at Ipaja with my cousin and he (Omolaja) stays in Ipaja too. My husband is a driver and since we had accommodation problem, he has moved to Port Harcourt. “So, I called my husband and told him. He said he would come to Lagos since it concerned his baby.

“So, I quickly left school and came to Lagos and that was how I knew that he sold my baby for N300,000 and that they were caught because the landlady of the people who bought the baby suspected something was wrong.”