FRUIT OF DOOM Woman throws neighbour’s child into well
By Chioma Okezie-Okeh
Saturday, June 30, 2007
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Desperate to have her own baby and the proverbial fruit of the womb, a housewife in Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, has finally plucked a seeming fruit of doom. She has landed in police net where she is now responding to posers as to why she tried to drown a neighbours five-year-old son.
The woman who abducted the kid in broad daylight and dumped him in a deep well, claimed that a juju priest (babalawo) advised her to carry out the evil act if she ever wanted to conceive and have her own baby.
In compliance with the directive of the said babalawo, the woman, Adijat Shina,25, abducted little Bashiru Suleman, and threw him into a well in her compound, 18 Ibijoke Street, Oregun, Lagos.
Bashiru would have been history save for a neighbour who saw Adijat throwing him into the well. The neighbour, a housewife, immediately raised an alarm and people came and rescued the half-drowned Bashiru.
Were she not known in the area, Adijat would have been lynched by the angry mob that gathered at the scene. However, civility prevailed and she was taken to Alausa police station alongside another neighbour, Manifa Musa,21, who was alleged to have conspired with her to perfect the act. The case has since been transferred to Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos.
Fruit of the womb
Looking remorseful while speaking to Saturday Sun, Adijat said she had tried everything humanly and spiritually possible to have a baby since her first baby died two years ago. All her efforts, according to her, haven’t given her "fruit of the womb". She now decided to confide in her neighbour, Manifa. According to the Kogi State-born, Adjidat, when she told Manifa of her plight, she told her that another neighbour, simply called Iya Bashiru, was the cause of her childlessness. "Manifa told me that she had consulted a native doctor at Ibadan and that the Baba recommended that I should kill the son of Iya Bashiru and bring him for sacrifice. She told me that the Baba said that 20th of June would be the last day," she said.
Date with Babalawo
To keep the date with the Babalawo, Adijat, now decided on the best way to kill Bashiru and take his corpse to Ibadan. Not having the heart to kill the boy whom she abducted, she put him inside the bucket used in fetching water in the well and dumped him in there to drown. While in the process, a neighbour who was upstairs saw her and raised alarm. The boy was almost dead when he was rescued.
"I knew that I could not kill him with my hands. I confided in Manifa that I would prefer throwing him into the well. She said I should go ahead as time was running out. I now called Bashiru and threw him into the well. I was still waiting for him to get drowned so that I would bring the body out when I heard shouts from people around. I was surrounded and Bashiru was brought out of the well. Thank God that he did not die. I believe that I was under a spell," she narrated.
Asked if her husband was aware of the plot, she said that when the incident happened, her husband abandoned her, as he had warned her severally to stay away from Manifa whom he said is devilish.
When Saturday Sun asked 21-year-old Manifa of her role in the act, she denied having a hand in it, saying that she didn’t advise Adjat to kill anybody. "I am a mother and I know the difficulties in child bearing. She knows where she got that idea. I don’t know why she wants to put me into trouble," she said.
She threw me into the well
When little Bashiru was asked what happened to him by our reporter, he simply pointed an accusing finger at Adijat and said "Na mama junior wey put me for there..", pointing at the ground to indicate the depth he’d emerged from. Speaking further, he revealed that Adijat who is known in the area as "Mama Junior" lured him with a promise to buy him biscuit.
According to Bashiru: "Mama Junior called me that e want buy biscuit for me".
"When I went to answer her, she said I should get the fetcher (bucket) from the well. I was there when she pushed me into the well," he narrated.
Father of the little boy, Suleman Ibrahim, told Saturday Sun that Adijat’s claim is baseless. He, however, thanked God for saving the life of his son. "My wife is a true Moslem and has nothing to do with anything fetish. I thank God that my child is a safe. It is only Allah who kept him alive that would judge these people," he said.
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