Lagos Cop
Police dismiss Lagos cop over missing baby. Six months after The PUNCH reported on the ordeal of a mother of three, Fortune Obhafuoso, at the hands of an Inspector, Samuel Ukpabio, whom she accused of forcibly taking her newborn, Joseph, and bribing her with N185,000, the Lagos State Police Command confirmed the errant cop’s dismissal on Thursday.
SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the state Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the situation during a phone chat with our correspondent, saying that following Ukpabio’s expulsion from the Force, he would be tried in court.
“The recommendation for the dismissal of Inspector Samuel Ukpabio has been approved,” he stated. This automatically leads to his prosecution.
“The Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, assures Lagosians of his unwavering determination to police the state within the dictates of the rule of law, civility, and respect for human life.”
According to our source, Ukpabio, a police officer with the State Criminal Investigation Department, detained Obhafuoso on Friday, December 23, 2022, the same day she gave birth to her child.
The officer then drove her and her three children to a police station in the state’s Yaba district, where she was suspected of attempting to sell the baby, which she denied.
Obhafuoso claimed that during interrogation, Ukpabio seized her kid and handed him over to an unidentified woman from a state government ministry.
The cop then paid her N15,000 and chased her and her two remaining children out of the police formation, warning her not to come back to recover her baby.
Ukpabio paid her another N170,000 when the enraged mother continued to demand the child.
“The last time I saw my newborn was at the SCID, where a police officer, Samuel Ukpabio, conspired with people posing as helpers to steal my baby.” “All I want is my baby,” said the 35-year-old in a special report published on Friday, January 6, 2023.
When asked about Obhafuoso’s charges the day before the special report was released, Ukpabio indicated the government had taken over the infant.
“They wanted to sell a baby for N3 million, which is considered baby trafficking.” The child is being cared for at a government orphanage. “The person who wishes to purchase the child is now in Kirikiri (Prison),” Ukpabio explained.
Asked about the N170,000 sent to Obhafuoso, the policeman said, “When things happen like that, instead of them going and messing up themselves, they would do something for you so that you can establish yourself so you won’t be in that form again. So, the amount sent to her was to take care of herself.”
Asked why he released Obhafuoso as he claimed she wanted to sell her baby for N3m which is an offence, Ukpabio said, “She has two other children; they wanted to collect them from her because she can’t take care of them and she started crying and pleading and because of the way she pleaded, she was released instead of taking to the Kirikiri (Prison).”