A homeless woman, identified as Aminat Adekunle on Friday, was delivered of a baby girl by the roadside in the Arepo area of Ogun State.
Still smarting from the afterbirth pains and looking pale, she was seen by our correspondent cradling the sleeping newborn in a container littered with her belongings.
The PUNCH learnt that the 36-year-old went into labour at about midnight and gave birth without any form of assistance from anyone.
It was further gathered that Aminat went on to hide the unclothed baby in a container belonging to a logistics company, located nearby.
The safety officer of the logistics company, Victor Tersoo, told our correspondent that some staff members saw the woman with the newborn, and contributed money to buy clothes for the infant.
“They bought food for her and also took care of the infant,” he revealed.
Tersoo said the workers at the company had been seeing Aminat around the area for a long time but that they thought she was mentally unstable because she was always seen smoking.
When our correspondent went to speak with her inside the container, where she was sitting and holding on firmly to her baby, the homeless woman said she has no family in Lagos.
Aminat revealed that she is from Osun State and had been homeless for more than seven months since she lost her job.
According to her, “I am from Ife in Osun State and that is where my first child is living with my elder sister.
“I have been in Lagos for about 20 years and have been doing different kinds of jobs to survive. I became homeless when I was sent out of my house when I was unable to pay house rent.
“I gave birth this baby by the roadside at midnight. I just started having this terrible pain and thought that I was going to die. I had to use the little experience I had as an auxiliary nurse to deliver the baby by myself.”
When asked if she knew the father of her child, Aminat said the pregnancy was a miracle.
She said, “Nobody impregnated me, I don’t know how the pregnancy got there. I just discovered that my stomach was getting bigger by the day. I did not even know it was a baby until it came out.
“I don’t have a husband, although people sleep with me. Nobody impregnated me. It is a miracle and I know it would be very hard for you to believe me.”
All efforts to contact the Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Health, Dr Tomi Coker, proved abortive.
As of the time of filing this report, she had yet to respond to calls made to her mobile.
Punch
