Juliana Francis
A 26-year-old woman, Agboola Mobolaji, has accused the Isheri Osun Police Station of illegally handing over her two-year-old son to her estranged husband, Mr. Akinleye Shamsudeen.
Mobolaji said the decision by the station to give the child to her husband, which is against the Child Right Law, has pitched the station against Ikotun Police Station.
It was gathered that the Ikotun Police Station had earlier stepped into the matter, whereby the Family Support Unit at the station, told Shamsudeen categorically it could not hand over a two-year-old child to him.
Our reporter also gathered that Ikotun Police Station had further asked Shamsudeen to get accommodation for his son and Mobolaji, which he agreed to at the station.
But Shamsudeen had later gone to Isheri Osun Police Station. When Ikotun Police Station heard about the move, it called Isheri Osun Police Station, aiming to correct it, but the intervention was said to have ended in a shouting match.
Mobolaji, who further alleged domestic violence, also said that her husband snapped her nude pictures and shared them on social media with friends.
She said: “He beats me close to five to six times a day even while I was pregnant. His mother usually supports him in beating me by holding my hands. On the day I decided to go and report him, I had already given birth and my baby was 10 months. I went to the police station with swollen eyes but I didn’t snap my bruises. While I was leaving the house, the mom asked me if I wanted to go and bring soldiers to the family house.”
Shamsudeen, responding to the allegations, said his wife was lying.
He denied beating his wife and sharing nude pictures, stressing that all he wanted was the welfare of his child.
He explained that the problem between him and his wife has been ongoing and that it was first reported at the Isheri Osun Police Station, which is the nearest police station to them.
He also stated that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Isheri Osun Police Station had told him to disregard Ikotun Police Station because Isheri Osun Police Station had jurisdiction over the case.
Shamsudeen, who is a surveyor by profession, said that he was not contesting with his wife over custody, adding that Isheri Osun Police Station allowed him to go with the child because he discovered that Mobolaji left the child in the care of her granny and went to Akure to get a job.
He said that when he went to check on the child, he also discovered that the child was suffering from kwashiorkor. He said that the child’s stomach started swelling and he had to step in by reporting the matter at Isheri Osun Police Station, where the child was handed over to him for proper medical treatment.
He said: “Our child is lacking the motherly care he deserves. Whenever the child is sick, her family will call me, and whenever I asked for his mother, Mobolaji granny will tell me that she was far away for her to call her.”
Mobolaji, countering her husband, said that the child’s stomach started swelling after her husband bought a drug via the Internet, which he and his mom administered to the child without recourse to a pediatrician’s prescription.
Shamsudeen argued thus “The medicine is used to enhance a child’s brain and Mobolaji once confirmed it at the station, saying she read about it online.”
According to Mobolaji, Isheri Osun Police Station asked her to resign from her job and returned to Lagos to take care of the child if she truly wanted to have custody.
Mobolaji is now bitter that despite her resignation, the police continued to leave the child with Shamsudeen and his family.
Seeking justice, Mobolaji ran to Esther Child Rights Foundation, a nonprofit organisation, where the Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Esther Ekwem repeatedly invited Shamsudeen for mediation, but he did not honour the invitation.
Ekwem said: “I followed up the story when Mobolaji came, explaining how everything was going. I had to call Isheri-Osun Police Station after she gave me the number of the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), named Mrs. Funmilayo.
“I don’t know her full name, so I called and explained to the woman that under the law, she cannot give two years old to his father, instead she should charge the case to Family Court.
“I have never seen a situation where a police officer would settle this type of case! I called the father of the child and urged him to come to our office, but he did not. I sent a letter twice, but the guy refused to come. I want to take the matter to Family Court.
“I still called the Policewoman Funmilayo when I heard that she asked Mobolaji to take her and other police personnel to Akure so that they could go there to confirm that Mobolaji had truly resigned. I asked her where and how she wanted the young mother to get such money to take police personnel to Akure.
“I also pointed out to the Police, that they did not investigate the drugs given to the child. If the child was given a drug that was not prescribed by a pediatrician, it means something is wrong somewhere. What we want is for the right thing to be done, and for the police to follow the law. The law does not allow a two-year-old child to be in the custody of the father. The law says that a child who is a minor must be with the mother.”
Our reporter contacted the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benjamin Hundeyin on the matter but he did not respond.
