BABY (15)

 

There is indeed no art in knowing the mind’s construction on the face. If there were, 28-year-old Mrs. Goodness Ogbonnaya would have known that her cousin, Israel Okafor Okereke, who had helped her search for her missing husband, Basil Ogbonnaya, was the same man who killed him.
killer-oke[1].gif?width=211
Okereke with the drum containing the dismembered body of late Ogbonnaya

blank.gif

 

 tokens

 

However, the bond the couple shared helped solve the mystery, recounts Goodness, the mother of seven-month-old Precious (their baby, who would never know her father, slain at the prime age of 31).

 

Basil was a businessman selling foodstuff at Shop 23 Milaco Plaza along Ago Palace Way in Okota, Lagos. On March 1, he had gone to meet with business associates at Iddo and Daleko respectively, Goodndess recalls. She had called her husband’s telephone number to know if he was on his way home about 6pm but his phone was switched off. Her husband later called back at 6.43pm to inform her that he was at Okafor’s place.

 

“I felt he was probably discussing with him and didn’t want to be disturbed. By 10pm, his phones were still switched off and he wasn’t back. We kept awake till about 2am when I asked one of the boys working for him to go and lock the door. I had hoped he slept over there and that he would call me first thing in the morning. They are friends. They had known each other before he married me. In fact, my husband helped him to secure the accommodation he lives in at No. 17 Omiyale Street, Ejigbo, where he killed him.”

 

But alas! the call never came and Goodness had reason to be alarmed. So she called Okafor, who denied seeing Basil or that he slept in his house. “When I didn’t see my husband in the morning and with his phones still switched off, I called Okafor to find out about my husband. But he said he had not seen him; that the last time he did was on February 28. Then he came over to our place. I told him my husband had not returned home, which was unlike him, and that I wanted to check hospitals, and he followed me.”

 

Searching with the suspect

That day, Goodness and Okafor combed the accident and emergency wards and mortuaries of hospitals, from Isolo to Gbagada and back to Ejigbo till dusk.

“A friend suggested I go back to Ejigbo to search for him since it was the last place I heard from him. By the time we did this it was late, and somehow my spirit was telling me to sleep over at his house. Before then I had told my brothers of the situation. He initially objected to my sleeping in his house. But following persuasion from my elder brother, he agreed, and said he had to come to Ago to pick his sister first, which he did. When we got to his house, he put me in one of the rooms and brought out a pillow from his room for me to use.

 

Pillowcase clue uncovered by seven-month-old baby

Probably stressed by the events of the day, Goodness’ seven-month-old baby, Precious, wouldn’t sleep and was playfully pulling at the bed sheet. Unknown to her infant mind, she had uncovered a clue that led them to her father’s murderer.

“I put my baby on the bed and she was pulling at the bed sheet. Then she pulled the pillow and I noticed blood stains on the pillowcase, and I became suspicious. So I pulled off the pillowcase and put it in my baby’s pampers.

 

Bloodstains on the wall

“I couldn’t sleep, so I began praying. Earlier, I had been asked what I wanted to eat but I said nothing. I had no appetite for food but I asked for tea. Not long after I began to purge and had to go to the toilet. There I saw splashes of blood on the wall and I took the picture with my phone. The sister whom I begged to sleep with us in the room was close to me, so she heard the clicking sound from my phone and turned. But I pretended as I came out as if I hadn’t done anything.

“About 5.30am, when I got up to prepare a bath for my baby, I saw my husband’s handkerchief he used the day I last saw him in the wash hand basin. It was stained with blood.”

 

Like one who had murdered sleep, Okafor also barely slept as he decided to sleep in his sitting room instead of his bedroom. Goodness’ cries and prayers unsettled him such that he came to her door severally to inquire what was wrong. In the morning when Goodness ran out of credit, he offered to go and buy for her while she gave her baby a bath.

“It was when he went out that I sneaked into his bedroom to confirm my suspicion. There I saw blood splattered on the wall. His sister was trying to catch some sleep because of my disturbance in the night. When I saw that, I called my brothers and told them. I also kept the handkerchief with the pillowcase I had seen earlier.

 

“By the time he came back, my brothers were in the area. So he left the house again to pick them. But my brothers came through another route and I showed them what I had seen.” When Okafor returned, she begged him to take her to Ago Police Station where she had earlier lodged a complaint and was told to wait for 24 hours before declaring him missing. He declined on the pretext that he was tired but later obliged after some persuasion.

 

Looking for more clues, Goodness asked to put her umbrella and bag in his car boot, which was also splattered with blood. But she pretended as if she saw nothing. “When we got to the station, I said I wanted to make a statement that my husband told me he was in his house the last time he called me. But the policeman in charge of such cases said I would be indicting him and there were penalties for such if my claims were untrue. I replied him that I didn’t mind.”

 

It would however take some going back and forth and tendering the evidence she had on her before the police took her serious and took Okafor in for questioning. He still denied seeing Basil and said they should take him anywhere, that he was innocent. “It was when I tendered the stained handkerchief and pillowcase that I was allowed to make my statement and a search warrant issued. The DPO instructed that Okafor should be put behind the counter.”

 

Okafor later confessed that he committed the heinous crime and escorted the policemen to search his house.

 

‘It’s rat blood on my wall’

“When the policemen got there and saw the blood stain on the wall, he initially said it was a rat that he killed. They later saw his bloodstained mattress, which he had kept outside and the rug. He told them he had drugged my husband before killing him with an axe around midnight (and I remember seeing that axe in the house and had asked him what he was doing with an axe in the city when he was not in the village).

 

He said he cut him first in the head, which woke him up, and probably a struggle ensued (explaining the blood stains) between them. So he broke his two legs with the axe to demobilise him and finished him off with a cutlass. He claims it was a mistake but because he injured him so much, decided to finish it…”

Though not shedding tears as she recounted the gory details to our reporter, she was filled with anguish as she measured her words, stopping and shaking her head at intervals.

 

Was she aware that her cousin had any evil antecedent?

“Somehow, I suspected so because of his lifestyle. We would see him for some time and he would disappear again. Because of his lifestyle, my husband had to dissociate himself from him at some point but he kept coming around. I never knew he could be this wicked to kill my husband.”

Contrary to the suspect’s claim that the late Basil was owing him some amount of money, Goodness said rather it was Okafor that was indebted to her husband.

 

“I’m not aware of any quarrel between them but I remember my husband said he had borrowed him money, which he promised to pay back by July this year. He borrowed him late last year when he was about to do his wedding. My husband said it was N3.5million. He didn‘t tell me he had any quarrel with Okafor.”

 

So what was Okafor’s motive for killing Basil and dumping him in a drum in his area (NNPC Ejigbo)? Was it because he felt he couldn’t pay back despite the fact that he runs a men’s clothing store at 131 Ago Palace Way, Okota, or could it be for ritual purposes as speculated by many, given the stickers on his car (‘This year money shall be my servant’ and ‘2011- My year of double blessings’)?

Police sources say no part of Basil’s body was missing. Why, why, why, is the question Goodness is asking, and Baby Precious would also, when she is old enough.

Read more…

12166300878?profile=originalAs the saying goes, all’s well that ends well but it really is not when there is so much silence about what did go on.

Exactly two weeks ago, his nanny took ten-month old baby Enioluwa Odegbaike, from his home in Magodo area of Lagos State. The little boy had been left in the care of the nanny, simply identified as Victoria, who apparently absconded with the baby while his mother was in the bathroom.

This last weekend the baby was found in Badagry, a border town in Lagos State. He was immediately united with his parents. The ordeal Mr. and Mrs Odegbaike must have endured in the last two weeks is better imagined than described.

Nanny Victoria’s action raises all kinds of questions. Was the motive kidnapping? Was there a syndicate behind her? Was she stealing the infant for herself? How was the baby recovered? What role did the police play? What has happened to the nanny? Why do we know nothing more about her than her first name? Why in the face of the happy news that Enioluwa has been found are the parents keeping mum?

Kidnapping in Nigeria has assumed the potency of a terrorist threat. The history of this crime that began as a weapon wielded first by Niger Delta militants and grew to become a source of easy money for your common garden criminal has been too often documented to need repetition here. In Baby Enioluwa’s case, there were no reports of any demand for ransom. The most significant aspect of the story was the use of social networks, Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry messaging to alert the populace and circulate the face of this lovely child and Nanny Victoria.

Shortly after the baby went missing, the parents made his picture and that of the nanny available through Facebook and other social media. Before long the news began to circulate among Nigerians both at home and abroad. In fact, the face of baby Enioluwa became so popular that many used his picture as their logo on their Facebook accounts. This helped in no small measure to assist in raising awareness about the poor baby and his parent’s plight. The news about his disappearance, which went viral, was good; it shows the power of communication. But that is about all that can be said about the matter at this point.

It is clear that the information the Odegbaike family had on Victoria, was scanty. Throughout the period of their son’s disappearance they were unable to give the nanny’s family name or it seems provide any background information or documentation on her.

More baffling, or perhaps it is all perfectly understandable given our realities, is the complete absence of any input from the police on this matter. Instead we have social networks and messaging channels filling in the gap and gratitude to God and providence for bringing this child back alive.

Not to put too fine a point on it this is an untenable method of crime detection and law enforcement. If Nigerians avoid the police because they have no faith in the ability of the men and women charged with the duty of protecting them to do the job effectively then we really have some far more basic issues to consider than the current all important one of protecting the sanctity of our vote.

Where are we if we cannot protect our children?

For every Baby Enioluwa there are thousands more, susceptible to the same crime and raising our hands to the sky is not the answer. A well trained professional and functioning police force that has the trust and confidence of the public, the protection of the community and the enforcement of the law as its primary goals is.

Can someone make this a campaign issue, please?

Read more…
Meet the 'Michelin Baby': Chinese boy,

A Chinese baby has become so chubby he now weighs the same as a six-year-old child.

Ten-month-old Lei Lei has been nicknamed the ‘Michelin Baby’ after tipping the scales at a whopping 20kg (3.1 stones).

According to his mother, Cheng Qingyu, her son was a normal weight at birth, but thanks to his ravenous appetite he has steadily ballooned since.Chubby chops:

Lei Lei weighs 20lbs but can just about be lifted up by his mother Cheng QingyuShe said: ‘No matter whatever he grabs, he unconsciously puts it in his mouth.

‘His most favourite thing is to eat.’

Lei Lei is currently in hospital in Yiyang, southern China’s Hunan province, where he is undergoing tests to see if there is a medical reason behind his weight gain.Despite his mammoth size, the portly youngster is not the largest baby in the world.

That accolade goes to Karan Singh, of Meerut, in India, who weighed an astonishing 3 stone 7lbs at the same age.


MEET THE FATTEST BABY IN THE WORLD

Weighing in at a hefty three and a half stone and standing 3ft 2in tall, 10-month-old Karan Singh is a giant among babies.

But her son's size is no surprise to his mother Svetlana - who at 7ft 2in is Asia's tallest woman.

The delighted mother, who is an inch taller than basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, hopes her giant baby will grow up to become the tallest person in the world.


Speaking in the family's modest home in Meerut, on the outskirts of Delhi, India, Svetlana told how the hungry boy needs feeding an astonishing 20 times a day.

"He just doesn't stop eating and never stops growing," she said.

"He is only ten months old and wears clothes designed for five-year-olds. Karan has never fitted into baby clothes.

"Even when he was first born he was 2ft 2in tall and was the same size as a normal two-year-old."

Svetlana's husband Sanjay, who at 6ft 6in has to look up to his wife, hopes his son's height will help him become a basketball player so he can study in America.

"Both sides of our family are very tall - my father is 6ft 5in and Svetlana's father is 6ft 7in - so Karan could not really have been born any other way," he said.


Little and large: Proud mother Svetlana - Asia's tallest woman - holds Karan alongside friend Priti Argawal and her son Dev, one year old

Despite being proud of their size the family admit it can cause problems.

Travelling in buses and cars is almost impossible because both husband and wife have to stoop to fit in.

And shopping becomes an ordeal as hordes of curious onlookers gather to stare at the couple and their giant baby.

"Despite his size everyone treats Karan normally because he is such a happy baby," said Sanjay.

"People who don't know us stare initially but Karan always wins them around with his smile and personality.

"He has a very jolly nature. He laughs and giggles a lot and has already started walking. The amount of food he demands must give him extra energy because he is very strong."

The couple, who are both doctors of naturopathy, a holistic medicine, met at university where their size immediately attracted them to each other.

"I was unsure if I would ever find a wife to match my height, but as soon as I met Svetlana I knew we would make a great couple," said Sanjay.

"I dream Karan will become a doctor like his parents. Perhaps his size will help him - we would love to send him to study in the US and he would be naturally gifted at basketball.

"We hope an American college might take him because he will be so tall."



Read more…

Mum brings baby back to life.

Miracle mum brings premature baby son back to life with two hours of loving cuddles after doctors pronounce him dead.
An Australian mother has told how her touch brought her 'dead' baby back to life.

Doctors gave tiny Jamie Ogg no chance of survival when he was born prematurely at 27 weeks weighing just 2lb.

His twin sister Emily had survived but after battling for 20 minutes to get him to breathe Jamie was declared dead.

He was then handed to his mother Kate so she and her partner David could grieve and say their goodbyes.But after two hours of being spoken to, touched cuddled and held by his mother he miraculously began showing signs of life.

Then after being given breast milk on his mother's finger, he began breathing regularly.

Kate, who gave birth after a three-hour labour in March, has spoken of how vital 'skin-on-skin' care can be for a sick baby, or 'kangaroo touch' as it is known in Australia. 'Skin-on-skin' care is when the child is laid on the mother.

Normally, premature babies are sent to intensive care and she was only given her son to hold because he was thought to have died.

Telling how the drama unfolded at a hospital in Sydney, she said: 'The doctor asked me after the birth had we chosen a name for our son.

'I said, "Jamie", and he turned around with my son already wrapped up and said, "We've lost Jamie, he didn't make it, sorry."

'It was the worse feeling I've ever felt. I unwrapped Jamie from his blanket.

'He was very limp. His little arms and legs were just falling down away from his body.I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my arm and just held him.

'He started gasping more and more regularly. I thought, "Oh my God, what's going on?" A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle'


'He wasn't moving at all and we just started talking to him. We told him what his name was and that he had a sister.

'We told him the things we wanted to do with him throughout his life.'

Jamie occasionally gasped for air, which doctors said was a reflex action.

She added: 'After just five minutes I felt him move as if he were startled, then he started gasping more and more regularly.

'I thought, "Oh my God, what's going on?" A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle.

'I told my mum, who was there, that he was still alive. Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger.

'He opened his eyes and moved his head from side to side.'She said they passed on a message to their doctor insisting Jamie was showing signs of life, but he sent back a midwife with the reply that they were just natural reflexes and that there was no possible way he could still be alive.

Kate then said to her husband, 'What if he lives?'

She added: 'I was like, "We could be the luckiest parents in the world".

'I gave Jamie some breast milk on my finger, he took it and started regular breathing.

'At that point the doctor came back. He got a stethoscope, listened to Jamie's chest and just kept shaking his head.

'He said, "I don't believe it, I don't believe it".'

David, speaking to the Australian TV show Today Tonight, said: 'Luckily, I've got a very strong, very smart wife.

'She instinctively did what she did. If she hadn't have done that, then Jamie probably wouldn't be here.'
Read more…
For Christy James (not real names) who hails from Ezinifite, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, the reality of falling in love with a blood relation, an incest that is abhorred in her community, has dawned on her.

Christy, who was impregnated by a relation, who she did not give his name, said she had carried her baby girl named Joy for nine months without getting any help from the man responsible for the pregnancy or her parents.

The relation, who was responsible, was not able to take care of her and her baby at birth. The teenager’s parents did not help matters either. According to Christy, they abandoned her shortly after she became pregnant and refused to render even the least assistance that someone could give to a stranger.

Coming face to face with Christy, one is confronted with her innocent face and the unending tears rolling down her cheeks. Her heart is also filled with regrets, as she says she was forced by circumstances to do what she did..

She told Daily Sun that the decision to throw her six-month-old baby into a toilet was the most difficult decision she had taken in life, but had to do it because that was the only alternative left for her at that time:

“I don’t know what to say. What happened was that I was impregnated by a relation of mine, who unfortunately is jobless and has no money to even take care of himself not to talk of taking care of me or my baby.

“My parents live in Delta State and as soon as I became pregnant, they abandoned me to my fate and would not want to have anything to do with me. I managed through the nine months of pregnancy and delivered the child until now when it became unbearable for me.

“I was totally abandoned by almost everybody. No one to advise me, no one to help me in feeding, no one to help me in anything. I didn’t know what to do until the idea of doing away with the baby came into my head.

“So, on that fateful day, I got that push, something inside me was pushing me to go and throw the baby into the pit toilet. I painfully did it, an action that is hurting me now and will continue to hurt me till the end of my life.

“I was arrested after the incident. I think some people saw me and reported to the police. They opened the pit and brought out the baby, but by then, she was already dead and that was how I was brought here.”

Christy who said she was neither raped nor forced into sexual relationship with her unnamed relation, however, asked for God’s mercy upon her life.
Read more…

A BLACK couple with their new baby yesterday - a white, blue-eyed BLONDE.

British Nmachi Ihegboro has amazed genetics experts who say the little girl is NOT an albino.

Dad Ben, 44, a customer services adviser, admitted: "We both just sat there after the birth staring at her."

Mum Angela, 35, of Woolwich, South London, beamed as she said: "She's beautiful - a miracle baby."
Ben told yesterday how he was so shocked when Nmachi was born, he even joked: "Is she MINE?"
He added: "Actually, the first thing I did was look at her and say, 'What the flip?'"
But as the baby's older brother and sister - both black - crowded round the "little miracle" at their home in South London, Ben declared: "Of course she's mine."
Blue-eyed blonde Nmachi, whose name means "Beauty of God" in the Nigerian couple's homeland, has baffled genetics experts because neither Ben nor wife Angela have ANY mixed-race family history.
Pale genes skipping generations before cropping up again could have explained the baby's appearance.
Ben also stressed: "My wife is true to me. Even if she hadn't been, the baby still wouldn't look like that.
"We both just sat there after the birth staring at her for ages - not saying anything."
Advertisement
Doctors at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup - where Angela, from nearby Woolwich, gave birth - have told the parents Nmachi is definitely no albino.
Ben, who came to Britain with his wife five years ago and works for South Eastern Trains, said: "She doesn't look like an albino child anyway - not like the ones I've seen back in Nigeria or in books. She just looks like a healthy white baby."..
He went on: "My mum is a black Nigerian although she has a bit fairer skin than mine.
"But we don't know of any white ancestry. We wondered if it was a genetic twist.
"But even then, what is with the long curly blonde hair?"
Professor Bryan Sykes, head of Human Genetics at Oxford University and Britain's leading expert, yesterday called the birth "extraordinary".
He said: "In mixed race humans, the lighter variant of skin tone may come out in a child - and this can sometimes be startlingly different to the skin of the parents.
"This might be the case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations. But in Nigeria there is little mixing."
Prof Sykes said BOTH parents would have needed "some form of white ancestry" for a pale version of their genes to be passed on.
But he added: "The hair is extremely unusual. Even many blonde children don't have blonde hair like this at birth."

The expert said some unknown mutation was the most likely explanation.
He admitted: "The rules of genetics are complex and we still don't understand what happens in many cases."
The amazing birth comes five years after Kylie Hodgson became mum to twin daughters - one white and the other black - in Nottingham.
Kylie, now 23, and her partner Remi Horder, now 21, are both mixed race.
Even so the odds were estimated at a million to one.
The Sun told in 2002 how a white couple had Asian twins after a sperm mix-up by a fertility clinic.
Yesterday three-day-old Nmachi's churchgoing mum Angela admitted that she was "speechless" at first seeing her baby girl, who was delivered in a caesarean op.
She said: "I thought, 'What is this little doll?'
"She's beautiful and I love her. Her colour doesn't matter. She's a miracle baby.
"But still, what on earth happened here?"
Her husband told how their son Chisom, four, was even more confused than them by his new sister.
Ben said: "Our other daughter Dumebi is only two so she's too young to understand.
"But our boy keeps coming to look at his sister and then sits down looking puzzled.
"We're a black family. Suddenly he has a white sister."
Ben continued: "Of course, we are baffled too and want to know what's happened. But we understand life is very strange.
"All that matters is that she's healthy and that we love her.She's a proud British Nigerian."
Queen Mary's Hospital said: "Congratulations to Angela and her family on the birth of their daughter."






Read more…

Girl frozen in time may hold key to ageing

American scientists are keenly studying the DNA of a 17-year-old girl who still has the body and behaviour of a baby

This 21'st century Peter Pan has defied scientists .A genetic condition (Anageria) opposite to progeria which some speculate Paris Hilton and many other women and MEN will kill for ! Brooke Greenberg is a miracle.


Scientists are hoping to gain new insights into the mysteries of ageing by sequencing the genome of a 17-year-old girl who has the body and behaviour of a tiny toddler.

PHOTO:Brooke Greenberg "baby", then aged 9, with sister Carly who was 6

Brooke Greenberg is old enough to drive a car and next year will be old enough to vote — but at 16lb in weight and just 30in tall, she is still the size of a one-year-old.

Until recently she had been regarded as a medical oddity but a preliminary study of her DNA has suggested her failure to grow could be linked to defects in the genes that make the rest of humanity grow old.

If confirmed, the research could give scientists a fresh understanding of ageing and even suggest new therapies for diseases linked to old age.


“We think that Brooke’s condition presents us with a unique opportunity to understand the process of ageing,” said Richard Walker, a professor at the University of South Florida School of Medicine, who is leading the research team.

“We think that she has a mutation in the genes that control her ageing and development so that she appears to have been frozen in time.

“If we can compare her genome to the normal version then we might be able to find those genes and see exactly what they do and how to control them.”

Such research will be the focus of a conference at the Royal Society in London this week to be attended by some of the world’s leading age researchers.

It follows a series of scientific breakthroughs showing that the life span of many animals can be dramatically extended by making minute changes in single genes.

The work began with tiny worms known as C elegans, which normally live for only about a fortnight. Researchers have been able to extend their life span by up to 10 weeks by making small changes in certain genes.

Scientists have gone on to discover that mutating the same genes in mice had the same effect.

“Mice are genetically very close to humans,” said Cynthia Kenyon, professor of biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, who is a key speaker at the Royal Society.

“The implication is that ageing is controlled by a relatively small number of genes and that we might be able to target these with new therapies that would improve the quality and length of human life.”

The laboratory findings have been supported by research into humans, focusing on families whose members are long-lived. In one recent study Eline Slagboom, professor of molecular epidemiology at Leiden University, Holland, collected data on 30,500 people in 500 long-lived families to find the metabolic and genetic factors that make them special.

“Such people simply age slower than the rest of us,” she said. “Their skin is better, they have less risk of diseases of old age like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension and their ability to metabolise lipids and other nutrients is better. The question is: what is controlling all these different manifestations of slow ageing?

“So far, the evidence suggests that there could be just a few key genes in charge of it all. If we can find out where they are and how they work, it opens the way to new therapies against the diseases of ageing that could work in all of us.”

Walker and other researchers, including Kenyon, believe that finding the cause of Brooke Greenberg’s condition could be one way to pinpoint some of those genes.

Superficially, Brooke, who lives with her parents Howard and Melanie Greenberg and her three sisters in Reisterstown, a Baltimore suburb, is frozen in time. She looks and acts as if she were a small toddler — for 17 years her family has changed her nappies, rocked her to sleep and given her cuddles.

Brooke has shown some development, including crawling, smiling and giggling when tickled but she has never learnt to speak and still has her infant teeth.

But she has also suffered a succession of life-threatening health problems, including strokes, seizures, ulcers and breathing difficulties — almost as if she were growing old despite not growing up.

Howard Greenberg, Brooke's father, said he wanted the genome research carried out in the hope it might help others.

He said: "Brooke is just a wonderful child. She is very pure. She still babbles just like a 6 month old baby but she still communicates and we always know just what she means."

Walker and his colleagues, who are working with Brooke’s parents to ensure she benefits from any research findings, have just published a research paper which suggests that in reality some parts of her body have indeed aged — but slowly and all at different rates.

“Our hypothesis is that she is suffering from damage in the gene or genes that co-ordinate the way the body develops and ages,” he said.

“If we can use her DNA to find that mutant gene then we can test it in laboratory animals to see if we can switch if off and slow down the ageing process at will.

“Just possibly it could give us an opportunity to answer the question of why we are mortal.”


Jerly Lyngdoh: World’s oldest baby:


Surgeons and pediatricians in India have been puzzled after discovering a 26-year-old man trapped inside the body and mind of a child aged between one and two years.Jerly Lyngdoh – who is still dressed in baby clothes by his parents – has a head circumference that babies 9-12 months old have, measures 84 cm like any two-year-old and weighs 22 pounds.

“Jerly’s infantile features are remarkable, and the only things he shares with an adult are his teeth,” Dr. J. Ryndong told the Hindustan Times.


According to the pediatrician, Lyngdoh suffers from poor secretion of growth hormones from the pituitary gland.


“His is a case opposite to progeria, which means advanced ageing, and we have reasons to say Jerly is a rarity,” Ryndong added. He ruled out the genetic factor, since all six of Jerly’s siblings have no physical or mental disability.


“We also plan to seek expertise from the medical world beyond to crack Jerly’s case,” the doctor said.


Read more…
After months of hide and seek, sick President Umaru Yar’Adua’s mother, Hajia Dada Yar’Adua was allowed access to him on Friday by the restrictive cabal led by Her daughter-in-law, Turai and Chief Security Officer (CSO), Yusuf Tilde. our source in Abuja revealed that few minutes after setting eyes on her son, shocked Hajia Dada broke down and wept like a baby, repeatedly calling him “Babangida, Babangida” her choice name for President Yar’Adua. The President never responded to his mother as he sat and looked at her in a manner that suggested he may have lost memories of her, according to a source. “Hajia was so shocked at his state of his health and the most painful was that even while she called him Babangida, the name she gave him from birth by which family members know Mr. President, he did not respond, he was just there looking at her like he doesn’t know who she is,” the source told us. For months Turai and her co-travelers restricted access to the sick President. They did not even allow his immediate family including his mother to see how he is doing. It was against this background that Hajia Dada called on the PDP, General Ibrahim Babangida, and Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo to prevail on Turai to allow her access. According to our source, on setting her eyes on her son, she repeatedly called out her favorite name she calls him. She named him Babangida after his paternal grand father. Our source said she kept calling “ Babangida, Babangida” , but her son just starred at her and could not utter a word. advertisement our source said after several minutes of trying to establish communication with her gravely ill son, with stone-faced Turai watching, Hajia Dada was taken away by security operatives. It was leant that the President’s mother returned to Katsina later Friday night, with the possibility of not seeing her son again, at the back of her mind. Our source also hinted that several times Hajia Dada had asked that her son be brought back to Katsina, where is expects marabouts to perform a miracle. Sources say shortly before Yar’Adua was evacuated to Saudi Arabia, the sick President had requested audience with his mother at the Presidential Villa. But Hajia Dada spent two days with the President and did not know why other brothers and sisters of President Yar’Adua never came around to see her. According to sources, Turai, wife of the President had instructed security operatives in the villa not to allow any of the President’s siblings around. An operative who is said to be very close to the Yar’adua’s had hinted the President’s mother. The President’s mother, it was gathered had told the president and for the first time, President Yar’Adua, according to a source “tongue lashed his wife and immediately ordered than his family members be granted unrestricted access anytime they want to see him.”
Read more…




Confusion is the situation report in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State as a 35-year-old evangelist, Mr. Brown Batta, allegedly killed his four-week-old son and wife.



advertisement

The young man SUNDAY PUNCH also gathered moments after killing his wife and child equally killed himself.

Residents of Nung Anya Street in Uyo are still confused over what would have made Batta embark on the killing spree.

The incident, our correspondent learnt, took place last Tuesday.

Narrating the ugly episode to SUNDAY PUNCH, on Friday, the landlord of No. 23, Nung Anya Street, where all the deceased were living before their death, Mr. James Atakpa, said the incident came to him as a shock.

Atakpa described Batta as a gentleman, who was known as an evangelist and wondered why he decided to carry out the gruesome act.

The landlord explained that he had already gone to bed after taking his medication on the fateful day when he heard a scream within his compound.

"Initially, I thought armed robbers had struck, but when I eventually came out, I saw a crowd gathered in front of my house. I later saw some people forcing the door to Batta's room open.

"When that was done, what happened was something I could not stand to behold. I was later told that one of my tenants had killed his four-week-old baby, his wife and himself.

"I am very ill as you can see and that was why I left the scene of the incident so that it will not worsen my condition. The man and his baby were found dead with blood stains all over the place," Atakpa stated.

He added that the evangelist's wife, who was initially breathing was rushed to the hospital, where she later died the following day after losing so much blood.

Atakpa said he was told by those at the scene that Batta stabbed his wife before hitting the head of the baby against the wall.

He also disclosed that Batta was found lying helplessly on the floor with deep laceration on his neck, while a part of his stomach was ripped open.

He said the woman's brother, who was shocked on hearing the incident, immediately called in the police, who came in and took the corpses away.

Speaking on the matter, the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Walter Rugbere, described the incident as an open and closed matter, adding that after investigation, it was alleged that Batta killed his wife, baby before committing suicide.

Rugbere added that some people alleged that Batta took the action when he suspected that his wife was cheating on him.

"There is nothing we can do about it because the man that was at the centre of the whole incident has already killed himself. It is an open and close case," the police
Read more…



The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a woman, Ezine Paul, for allegedly selling his younger sister's 24-day-old baby for N30,000.




advertisement

Ezine's 28-year-old sister, Uju Gladys, was said to have been impregnated out of wedlock in 2009.

Because of her inability to locate the man responsible for the pregnancy, her elder brothers and sisters were said to have resolved that she should be living with Ezine in Ipaye, a suburb of Lagos, pending her delivery.

Gladys told journalists at the premises of the command's Public Relations Officer, on Monday that she delivered a baby girl on December 12, 2009 and her sister made away with the baby on January 5, 2010.

She said when she confronted her, Ezine claimed that the family directed her to take the baby to a motherless babies' home so that she could get proper upbringing.

She said she was taken aback when she contacted her elder siblings and they denied knowledge of the alleged family resolution.

Gladys said that based on the advice of her sister, Chineye Onuoha, she reported the case at Ayobo Police Station, where the Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Julius Isijola, led some policemen to arrest Ezine.

Ezine confirmed to journalists that she sold the baby to a Ghanaian, whom she met through an unnamed female neighbour..

She said that she was paid N30,000 while the neighbour told her that she also received N20,000 from the buyer.

She said that she was told that the buyer had since travelled out of the country with the baby.

The command's Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, said that efforts were on to track down the female accomplice and possibly the alleged buyer.

He added that during investigation, detectives discovered that Ezine had earlier engaged in suspected illegal adoption of a baby.

Mba said that investigation revealed that a seven-year-old girl, Geneva, who the suspect had been claiming to be her daughter, was not her biological daughter.

Confirming the allegation, Ezine said that she got the girl about seven years ago allegedly at the General Hospital, Onitsha with the aid of a nurse when she could not bear a child.

She claimed to have paid about N70,000 for the "adoption."

"I did that in ignorance. But now, I know that I engaged in illegality as regards Geneva," she told journalists.

Mba displayed photographs of different persons and assorted charms allegedly recovered from the suspect's wardrobe.
Read more…

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean couple addicted to an Internet game about raising a virtual child were arrested for neglecting their real 3-month-old daughter and letting her starve to death, news reports said.

images?q=tbn:AnYtWKpcO-a_lM:%3Ca%20href=http://savechildrennow.org/images/photo_6.jpg">

The couple spent between four and six hours every day at Internet cafes in Suwon, a city just south of Seoul, and bottle-fed their baby only once a day, the Yonhap news agency and other South Korean media reported, citing police.

The couple found their baby dead on Sept. 24 when they returned home after playing online games at a nearby Internet cafe all night, Yonhap reported.

The 41-year-old father and his 25-year-old wife, both jobless, went into hiding at a relative's home north of Seoul after a police autopsy found the baby died because of a long period of malnutrition, the report said. Police arrested the couple on Wednesday, it said.

“I'm sorry to my daughter and hope she doesn't get sick in heaven,” the father was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

News reports said the girl was born prematurely, weighing 5 pounds (2.25 kilograms), and had spent one month in an incubator.

The couple, who met each other through an Internet chat site, was reportedly obsessed with a role-playing game called “Prius Online” in which they nurtured a virtual girl dubbed “Anima.”

Calls to the Suwon police team handling the case rang unanswered Saturday..


Related:

An Internet-game craze has swept across the nation of South Korea. Some players have died after playing computer games for days-on-end without getting out of their seats to use the bathroom, to eat or to sleep. Others have lost their jobs by continuously playing the game 'Warcraft,' instead of fulfilling the responsibilities of their jobs. Computer rooms all over South Korea are filled to capacity, 24/7. But, now innocent infants have been vicitimized by the 'virtual-game addiction.'

The Houston Chronicle reports that, "a South Korean couple addicted to an Internet game about raising a virtual child were arrested for neglecting their real 3-month-old daughter and letting her starve to death, news reports said.

Addicts%20Games.jpg

Excuse me, but this is foolish. South Korean parents are playing a game about raising a 'virtual' infant, and it doesn't enter their minds that they too have a real baby who needs to be fed, bathed and properly taken care of.

Sadly, the judicial system is weak and too accomodating to criminals in South Korea. The accused parents stand a good chance of not serving any prison-time if they are convicted of killing a 'real' baby. In similar cases, some parents, who killed their children through woeful neglect, were only forced to serve one-to-three years in prison after being judged guilty for their crimes.

According to the Chronicle, "the couple spent between four and six hours a day at Internet cafes in Suwon, a city just south of Seoul, and bottle-fed their baby only once a day, the Yonhap news agency, and other South Korean media reported, citing sources."

On Sept. 24, the married couple found their baby dead, when they returned to their residence after playing the so-called 'virtual' baby game at a nearby Internet cafe all night, as disclosed by Yonhap.


Read more…
A woman suspected to be a child-trafficker was yesterday caught in a Chanchangi flight 137 from Owerri to Lagos, by passengers who became suspicious when they noticed the lack of bonding and hostility of a five-month-old baby boy to the woman who was pretending to be its mother. The behaviour of the woman aroused suspicion of the passengers when she could not breastfeed the child or provide a feeding bottle which she was supposed to be feeding it with; rather, she tried to spoon-feed it amid the child's resistance, which heightened the passengers' suspicion that the child might have been stolen. According to eye-witness account, when the now infuriated passengers literally bombarded her with questions, she confessed that the baby was not hers and admitted that she was into child trafficking racket. “This baby was stolen by a woman who confessed openly she was into the racket and was identified by Chachangi airline officials. On landing, the woman further confessed she had a man as an accomplice but the man could not be found even after all the passengers had been identified”, an eye-witness told THISDAY. The flight left Owerri, Imo State at about 3.00 pm and landed at the new domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMA2, at about 4.00 pm. Spokesman of the airline, Ibrahim Adamu, confirmed the attempted kidnapping and according to the senior cabin crew on board the aircraft, Mr. Suma Inyang, the baby was crying profusely throughout the flight and after disembarkation, prompting the passengers to continue harassing the woman who later confessed to the crime. The baby, on arrival in Lagos, was handed over to a Chanchangi crew member, Anwal Rufai. But Adamu later explained to THISDAY, “A female lawyer from the United States wanted to adopt the child and asked the younger sister to bring the baby from Owerri to Lagos, but the girl did not know how to handle it and when she was arrested at arrival in Lagos, her sister came with all necessary adoption documents. The matter was handed over to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).” But the General Manager, Public Affairs, FAAN, Akin Olukunle could not confirm that the baby was handed over to the agency and the management of Bi-Courtney, the operators of MMA2 refused to comment on the matter as its head of communications, Olugbenga Adegbesan told THISDAY he was on leave.
Read more…
Dear readers, Carrying his baby months after I left him! Dear readers, I am in a very difficult position. One I would find extremely difficult to explain to my former boyfriend. I honestly don’t even know how to explain it to myself let alone any other one, because it is a very strange thing. advertisement My ex-boyfriend and I went our different ways about five months ago, and since then I haven’t slept with another man on account of the way we separated. I caught him with one of my very good friends. For me, it was the height of it all. Prior to that time, we have had issues concerning his ability to keep his pants zipped up. Because I have always been told that relationship takes time to form, I kept enduring the situation for four years. But catching him with my friend was more than I could endure. I didn’t give him the chance to explain anything and told him in clear terms that I don’t ever want to see him. Even when some of his friends came to beg and explain that I should give him a chance to explain what really happened, I ignored them all. My parents also tried to speak on his behalf, but backed off when I made my stance very obvious. I honestly thought I was rid of him until I discovered that I am about five months pregnant. The shock isn’t the pregnancy, but the way my body concealed the knowledge from me. Like I said, we have gone our separate ways and I am carrying his baby inside of me. How do I convince him that the child is his? How do I present the case to him and his family after telling him I am through with him? Will he believe me? Will he ever accept the child as his own? How do I bring a child whose birth would be clothed in controversy into the world? How do I explain the whole matter to my parents or his for that matter? Would he believe I didn’t know about the pregnancy until now? At 32, who would believe I didn’t know I was pregnant till now? The few friends I told are divided in opinion. While some think abortion is still possible at this stage of the pregnancy, some think I should go ahead and have the baby on my own, since I have a good job without telling the father. Yet others think I owe myself and baby the responsibility of informing the father. And that even if he denies, at least, he would be aware of the existence of the baby. I am in a very tight corner. Please help me. I love to have a baby, but not in this controversial manner. A doctor I contacted said it was too risky to abort the child at this stage. He also explained that some women don’t experience the usual signs and agrees it is inexplicable. I am so confused because even if he accepts I don’t want to marry him again. There is no way I can marry a man I don’t trust. And I don’t want to be a single mother either. Iremide. Dear Iremide, I don’t subscribe to you aborting the baby whatever the situation. A child is a gift from God and only He has the right to touch a life. He takes and gives as He pleases. It isn’t in your place to do that. The fact that He didn’t allow you the pleasure of experiencing the natural signs a woman notices when she gets pregnant shows that this child is meant to be. What this means is that this child is very determined to come and any attempt by you to terminate its life could result in your death too. So, be careful. At any rate, have you bothered to consider God’s reason for making all these happen? Naturally, when a woman takes in, her flow is expected to stop even if she is one of those lucky women who don’t experience nausea, spitting and discomfort associated with the early days of pregnancy. That none of these happened shows the benevolent hands of God at work. Rather than worry at what this man would say, why not begin by thanking God for this special gift? I know and understand all the different shades of feelings you are going through as well as the attendant confusions, but going first to God would help you put things in their proper perspectives. First, you have to accept the reality of the baby growing inside of you. That is not negotiable. You must have the calmness of mind to accept that no matter what happens between the father and you, this baby has come to stay and for a while may be your sole responsibility. Once you have the grace to accept the baby as part of you, the attendant strength to face the hostility, condemnation as well as all the other negative attitudes from people around you would come from nowhere. This will help you know what advice to take and those to ignore. For instance, you will learn to shut out from your life those friends asking you to terminate this pregnancy. This is particularly necessary, because you caught your man with one of these so-called friends. Only the spirit of God can tell you the truth at all times. Those urging you to abort a five months old pregnancy don’t mean well for you. A lot can go wrong even if you entrust your life to the best doctor in the world. What would be your story if you end up having damaged womb? Would say you lost your womb due to fears of raising a child alone? Would any of these friends give you any of their children to call your own? At 32, are you not old enough to be a mother or make your decision? Besides, have you stopped to consider the viability of your biological clock? What about the spiritual angle, the destiny of the individual? What if God reveals to you that child is meant to be your only child in life? Would you still be ashamed to care for it or make excuses for your reason to get rid of it? If you have never given him cause to suspect you, lied to him, he would believe you. Only a man who doesn’t trust his woman or running away from responsibility would deny a woman he has slept with. Don’t judge or condemn him even before giving him a chance to defend his honour as a man. Yes, he may appear irresponsible to you on account of his behaviour, but when it comes to the issue of knowing that he is about to be a father, don’t deny him his rights. Your body may be incubating the child, but he is the father. Hence he has the right to know because you didn’t make the baby alone. Even if he doubts the paternity of the baby, modern medicine has made such thing so simple. A DNA could be conducted on the foetus to determine the paternity or on the baby after birth. Telling him doesn’t mean you have to go back to him if you don’t want to, but it would give both of you the chance to discuss the well being of this child God has graciously given to the two of you. Overtime, it would also give you two the chance to re-assess your relationship. This child could be God’s way of forcing you to listen to the wise counsel of all those who tried to talk you out of your decision. There is no way you both won’t talk about the past if both of you plan to play prominent roles in the life of this child. Until you listen to him, you won’t know how your friend ended up in the position you caught both of them. Have you ever tried considering the fact that your friend out of jealousy may have planned everything to ensure you broke up with him? You will never know the true nature of some of your friends or motive of their friendship unless you hear this man out. Listening doesn’t mean you should forgive him, but knowing what actually transpired that day would go a long way in helping you understand a lot of things happening around you. Whatever happens between the two of you, the interest of the child should always come first, because at the end of the day that is what would count the most. Good luck.
Read more…
Dumped in dirty gutter, now Baby Fashola The birth of a new baby usually evokes joy in the proud parents who sometimes roll out the drums to celebrate the happy event, especially if the baby is coming after a long wait by the couple following their wedding. Among some families, the celebration may entail them barricading an entire street, especially if they are well-to-do and the baby is the first child of that union. At such an event, the celebrants and their guests may be seen donning fashionable uniformed wears as is usually the case with Nigerians in the South West who often settle for their trademark Aso ebi. Also a party of this nature can never be complete without abundance of food and assorted drinks with enough music to tease all present to the dancing floor. Children, the Christian Holy Book says, are blessings from God and therefore should be treasured and treated with care and love. In fact, Jesus Christ, the Biblically acclaimed son of God, had cause to rebuke his disciples for scolding those bringing little children to Him for blessing. But it will appear that one woman’s bundle of joy is another woman’s burden of pain. For instance, a certain mother somewhere in the sprawling slum community of Tolu in Ajeromo Ifelodun Local Government obviously did not believe in the Biblical statement that a child is a special blessing from God when she decided to dumped her newly born baby rather than celebrate her birth like some happy parents are doing. In fact, it came as a big shock to some residents in the area when they stumbled on a black polythene bag dumped inside a dirty gutter which on close examination was found to contain a baby girl with a cellotape across its mouth, apparently to prevent it from crying. A middle age man was the first to recover from the shock and subsequently took the ‘strange package’ to the Tolu Police Station When Policemen at the station later freed the baby from the bag it was discovered that its umbilical cord had not been cut. According to a Vanguard Metro source, the baby was taken to the nearby Tolu Medical Centre for attention 30 minutes later. The hospital took custody of the child. Vanguard Metro’s initial efforts to see the baby ran into a brick wall as the Police were not initially forthcoming on its whereabout. A senior Police officer at the Station declined information pertaining to the baby and referred all enquiries to the Police Public Relations Office, Ikeja. When our reporter visited the Tolu Medical Centre, the Medical Director, Dr. Sodipo Gbolahan, confirmed the story that an abandoned baby was brought to the hospital in the morning by policemen from the Tolu station, with the umbilical cord still intact. He later led Vanguard Metro to the ward where nurses taking care of the baby assured that she was doing well. The card with which the baby was registered read: Fashola Joy Tolu. According to Dr. Gbolahan, the baby was christened after Fashola because he is doing well as the Governor of Lagos State. Speaking to Vanguard Metro the midwife saddled with the responsibility of taking care of Joy said: “From my own experience as a midwife, the baby was delivered that very day she was thrown away, because we separated the umbilical cord and treated it as usual. We also pierced her ears and fixed earrings in them. But up till now nobody has come forward to lay claim as the mother”. She also informed that the baby was not on breast milk, which exposes her to risk. She, however, assured that since she was in hospital there was no problem. But the State Command Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, an Assistant Superintendent of Police(ASP), Chris Onyeisi told Vanguard Metro that Baby Fashola was later transferred to the Juvenile Welfare Centre(JWC) at Alakara, Munshi. Vanguard Metro learnt that she was later taken to an undisclosed orphanage homer.
Read more…

Blog Topics by Tags

  • in (506)
  • to (479)
  • of (339)
  • ! (213)
  • as (166)
  • is (157)
  • a (156)

Monthly Archives