 |
| Rotimi with her baby boy |
Last
week Wednesday, news went viral on social networks that
22-year-old, Oyinlola Rotimi a 400-level student of the Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, gave birth to a baby inside one of the toilets
in her hostel in attempt to kill her new born.
Rotimi who is
studying Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology was found in one of
the toilets in Moremi Hall, her hall of residence by two cleaners
who hurriedly rushed her and the new born to the institution’s
Health Center.
Rotimi, who was discharged
from the hospital on Friday, narrated what actually happened saying she
was not in any way trying to kill her baby, the cleaners that helped her out
also defended her... Read what she told PUNCH below...
“Why would I flush or kill my baby after going through the pains of carrying him for about good nine months? I am not heartless and I thank God for my life and the safe delivery. I know God has the best plan for me and my baby.
I seriously appreciate the cleaners for their assistance because I got here (health centre) before I understood everything that happened to me. I am happy that I am alive and my baby is alive too. I’m also using this opportunity to thank the VC, the doctors and nurses, my lecturers and everybody because they all stood by me. They all became my father, my mother and everything to me.
“Right now, I can call myself a celebrity and definitely I’m going to be greater than a celebrity. My baby too is going to be great. Look at the circumstance that surrounds his birth, just some days old, he is already all over in the news around the world and everybody is happy to see him or hear about his story. He will surely go beyond where I am now. He has turned me into a kind of celebrity. ”
“I was purging all through
the night and I had no idea of what labour pain was all about. Actually, I was
feeling pressed, I can’t call it a labour pain because I was visiting the
toilet all through the night till that morning. I just went to the toilet to go
and purge when I noticed something just came out of me which I found out was
the baby. The baby entered the closet. I was just there shouting,
bleeding and people who saw the blood came out to help me alongside the
baby.
“I was really scared! I was
not expecting a baby. I went to the toilet but seeing a baby was terrifying
because I was not expecting him or her to come out yet. It is absolutely not
true that I took to my heels when people came to help me. It happened in Moremi
Hall toilet and the toilet is a public one where everybody takes their bath,
fetch water and clean up. So, some people were around fetching water, having
their bath as usual, while I was in the toilet planning to defecate. My friend
called the cleaner for help because she was an elderly woman. I was very scared
and people around too couldn't help because we are all young female
students. The cleaner later helped to carry the baby out and brought it to the
Health Center along with me.”
Her plan for the baby
“I will continue to keep
him more handsome, healthier and nurture him to attain greater height in life.
But what he will become later in life is not for me to decide but he will
definitely become what God wants him to become. I will just try to train him in
God’s way and I am sure His (God) plan for his life will be realized.”
The bean cake she ate
deceived her – CSO
According to the
institution’s Chief Security Officer, Mr. Paul Ogidi, Rotimi thought she had
stomach upset instead of labor pains because of the bean cake she
took before going to bed.
“She got to campus late at
night on Tuesday and it was learnt that she could not immediately get
herself something to eat but later resolved to buy beans cake within the
campus. After eating the snack, she complained severely of running stomach,
urinated and defecated at regular intervals.
“She felt her stomach
disorder was caused by the bean cake that she took the previous night – not
knowing it was labour pains.”
Varsity law does not forbid
pregnancy - OAU
Authorities of OAU have
blamed the improper use of the social media for the allegation that Oyinlola
attempted to flush her baby away.
The Head of Public
Relations, Mr. Biodun Olarenwaju, who spoke on behalf of the management,
described the incident as a “social media rumour.”
He said, “Social media is
designed primarily to disseminate information. But in the Nigerian context,
many people disseminate rumors The only information that should be
seen there should be those persons who have the authority to speak concerning
that particular incident.
“The only truth in the
social media episode is that a bouncing baby boy was delivered in the toilet of
the female hostel in our university. Other tales on the social media were
totally incorrect. Students should not encourage rumor mongering because of the
image of the person involved. They have to be careful not to make rumor the
news.”
He explained that it was
legal for the student to have delivered the baby in the school, stating that
universities are institutions for adults.
“It is not a crime for a
student to be pregnant. There is no law or decree that states that a student
should be punished, an adult for that matter, for getting pregnant. And
there is no law in this university that states that an undergraduate cannot
become pregnant,” he added.
We forced the door
open to rescue Oyinlola, baby – Cleaners
Also, the two cleaners,
Mrs. Shipebi Grace and Mrs. Cecilia Ologbenla, in a chat with our
correspondents, said there was no evidence to prove that Oyinlola wanted
to kill her baby.
The cleaners noted that
they had to force the door open when they were called to ensure the safety of
Oyinlola and her baby who was crying. According to them, the baby
was in the water closet when they entered the toilet.
“She would not have wanted to attempt to kill the baby the way we saw her. She only panicked when we forced the door in. We had to force the door in because of the cry of the baby. In fact, it was one of them that came to call us, but you know some students are impatient. They didn’t confirm what happened before they started spreading rumor.
No comments:
Post a Comment