The police in Kwara State have commenced an investigation into the disappearance of the umbilical cord and placenta of a newborn baby at Government Cottage Hospital, Iloffa in the Oke-Ero Local Government Area of the state.

Five employees of the medical facility, including a medical doctor, are now in police custody, the spokesperson of the command, DSP Ejire Adeyemi Toun, confirmed this to newsmen on Saturday.

She said, “The unfortunate incident of the missing umbilical cord is true, discreet investigation is ongoing at the state criminal investigation department, further details will be communicated to you upon its conclusion.”

The traumatised mother of the baby,  identified as Mrs C. Williams, a class teacher at Orota Secondary School, Odo-Owa, was reported to have had the child on Sunday night but was not given the umbilical cord and the placenta by the hospital’s workers.

JomogNews learnt that five of the workers were later arrested in connection with the missing parts and were being detained by the general Investigation unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department of the command in Ilorin.

The suspects detained by the police include a resident doctor, three nurses and a ward attendant at the hospital.

It was gathered that the police were invited when efforts to settle the controversy at various levels failed.

It was further gathered that it took the efforts of elders of Odo-Owa community to calm some angry youths who suspected foul play and were about to burn down the hospital on Tuesday over the incident.

Mrs Williams, while narrating her ordeal, said that she was rushed to the hospital while experiencing labour pains on Sunday afternoon and gave birth to a baby at about 7 pm the same day.

“I was feeling some labour pains on Sunday and I got to the cottage hospital, some minutes past 1 pm on Sunday, and told the nurse I met on duty that I was having contractions; she was the one that attended to me after confirming that I was truly in labour.

“She took me into the labour room and asked me to wait because I still had more time. Not quite long after I came, the doctor also came in and instructed the nurse to usher me into the labour room,” she said.

She said that after having the baby, the following morning, she was discharged and allowed to go home.

She, however, said that the hospital workers gave her a bag containing her items but did not give her the placenta and the umbilical cord of the baby when they asked her to go home.

“Although they handed a black nylon bag to me, I discovered that there were two missing items inside the nylon; they are the umbilical cord and the placenta,” she said.

“Some of their staff started telling me they were sorry that there was a mistake. The attendant said she had thrown the placenta inside a pit but they could not find it suggesting a dog might have eaten it.

“That was when I flared up with some members of my church who were also present that it’s not possible that they just have to present the placenta”.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ejire-Adeyemi Toun, confirmed the incident, adding that the investigation was ongoing.

“The police are investigating the incident and five suspects have been arrested in connection with it,” the PPRO said.

A father of two, simply identified as Amas, reportedly lost his life on Friday on a high-tension pole after being electrocuted in Ekeki Police Station, Azikoro Road, in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

Amas, a non-staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, who lives in the neighbourhood was on the pole to connect clients to the federal line before the incident which took his life occurred.

DAILY POST, learnt that due to the poor power supply in the state, the preferred and stable line remains the federal line with assurance of 12-13 hrs power daily.

The deceased, who hails from Nembe Local Government Area of the state, was said to have been stuck on the pole for hours before officials of the PHCN came to his rescue.

According to an eyewitness, who gave his identity as Micheal Orubo, “Amas lives on our street, and most of the connection work in this area he attends to them, why has death come to him in such a way? He just left us where we were playing a chess game, and said he was coming back but never returned”

He was easygoing, who will care for the two kids he has left behind. The money he gets from these electric connections is what he manages to feed his family with. What manner of death is this, someone we were with throughout this period of rain, so he left to fix the connection immediately after the rain.

Another eyewitness said, “He just passed me not more than five minutes, immediately after the rain stopped. The next thing I heard was people screaming, we rushed to the scene of the incident but we couldn’t help it, because he was wearing a belt so it held him tight to the pole, there was nothing the people could do because we were all scared and it was still raining”

It took hours before PHCN people came and brought the lifeless body down from the pole. The mother has a shop close to where the incident happened, and when she heard about it, she hadn’t been herself since, she couldn’t even come out to see the body. People are consoling her now, very sad to know that he is dead.

Gunmen have abducted Alhaja Seliat Raji, a sister to Ahmed Raji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. JomogNews gathered that the incident occurred on Thursday evening.

It was gathered that the Alhaja Seliat was abducted at her residence in Iseyin, Oyo State.

It was learnt that the gunmen, in a bid to abduct the woman, killed the security guard in the house.

The name of the security guard has not been revealed as at the time of filing this report on Friday.

Sources said that the kidnappers arrived at the residence on a motorcycle.

It was learnt that the kidnappers left the scene in their victim’s Lexus car.

Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Police Command, Adewale Osifeso, confirmed the incident to DAILY POST on Friday.

He said that investigation has commenced on the matter.

“Investigation is ongoing. Updates will be communicated, please,” he said in response to enquiries by our correspondent.