Two men caught in possession of a baby's corpse in a sack

 Two men have been arrested in Abia State for being in possession of a three year old baby girl’s copse stuffed in a sack. The suspects, Chibuike Anibuife and Jonathan Nwogu, according to PUNCH were arrested by men of the State’s Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) on patrol at Ariaria Junction, Osisioma near Aba in the state.

While parading the suspects, the Abia State Commandant of NSCDC, Mr. Andy Dateer, explained that the suspects were initially apprehended by some residents who almost lynched them before the intervention of his men.

Dateer said: “The people were attracted to the suspects following a sharp argument between them and another man. The man, however, escaped when he sensed that the residents had become suspicious of them. The mob was infuriated by the strange content of the sack and demanded explanations from the men, but their failure to provide satisfactory answer made the mob descend on them.

The NSCDC boss said that the suspect would be handed over to the police for proper investigation as what his men simply did was to prevent the mob from killing the suspects.

PUNCH however reports that the suspects insisted that they were contacted by the father of the deceased child to help him bury the corpse.

According to a source, who pleaded anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the paper, on the incident, the suspects later took NSCDC operatives to a hospital in Aba where the corpse was allegedly given to them to bury.

The source said a nurse at the hospital admitted that the girl died while receiving treatment.

It was learnt that the request by the security agents to see the doctor in charge was turned down and the NSCDC operatives were said to tactfully withdraw from the hospital without arresting the nurse or the doctor for fear of being attacked.

The duo denied being ritualists. While Anibuife said he never knew the other suspect, Nwogu, he explained that he had only intervened when the crowd wanted to lynch him.

Nwogu, on his part, said that a man had approached him and begged him to help him bury his dead child in a site where he (Nwogu) worked. According to him, he was paid N2, 000 and later taken to the hospital to pick up the corpse. He said he took the assignment because he needed money.

Source: PUNCH METRO