A student of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic in Owo, Wunmi Agbeluyi, has been reported dead, after a herbalist allegedly put her in the family way and helped her carry out a failed abortion. Police spokesman, Femi Joseph said the Ondo state police command have picked up the herbalist who allegedly impregnated the 20-year-old Science Laboratory Technology (SLT) student.
“He is currently being quizzed at the Special Investigative Bureau,” the police image maker informed. Sources reveal that in a desperate bid to terminate Wumi’s pregnancy, the herbalist gave her some concoction to drink in order to flush it down. Vanguard reports that the suspect was an apprentice to the deceased’s father who was a renown herbalist until his death.
The suspect apparently had been showing interest in the deceased before her father’s death, but was hindered because the late herbalist disapproved of the relationship. However, after Wumi’s father died, the student went on to have a relationship with her father’s apprentice and that led to the unwanted pregnancy. It was gathered that the lovebirds agreed that they were not ready to be parents, hence the opting for an abortion.
The deceased was said to have taken the concoction and after some days she developed severe abdominal pain. Sensing some trouble, the suspect rushed her to a private hospital where the doctor who was recently picked up and quizzed by detectives helped them to evacuate the remnants of the pregnancy. The pain continued even after flushing was done by the doctor in the private hospital, this made the suspect to relocate Wumi to the state general hospital.
It was at the general hospital that the 20-year-old later died, after all medications given to her proved impotent. Sources say the lovers did not open up to the doctors that attended to Wumi at the state hospital. The cause of her untimely death was not determined until after she died and was taken back to Ijare for burial. According to The Vanguard, some sympathisers informed the deceased’s sister, of what actually happened before the suspect rushed the victim to the various hospitals.
The sister solely called Funke, went with other family members to report the matter to the Ijare- Olujare of Ijare who advised them to lodge a complaint with the police. Following the report, the suspect and the medical doctor were later picked up and detained. Funke said: “it was a friend called Omololu who informed me that my sister had been admitted in the state specialist hospital and was critically ill. I rushed to the hospital to meet my sister in pain complaining of stomach ache. She insisted that the doctors should not give her injection or drips as prescribed.
“While we were in the hospital Wunmi refused to disclose why she was given the concoction. According to her, the deceased later died in the hospital and was buried on Sunday in Ijare.“It was after the burial that people came to me and narrated what really happened to my sister,” Funke added. “I informed the family members and we reported the matter to the Olujare of Ijare who asked us to lodge a formal complaint with the Police. I was informed that someone gave her concoction to abort the pregnancy but when she complained of abdominal pain, she was rushed to the hospital.
“I was later informed that the doctor in the private hospital billed them N25,000 and an initial deposit of N20,000 was paid. It was the doctor that helped them to flush out the remnants of the pregnancy. “But when the pains persisted I learnt she was rushed to the specialist hospital where she later died.”
Funke said the family would want justice to be done and pleaded that the police should not sweep the matter under the carpet. “We will pursue the matter to a logical conclusion and those behind the death of our last born should be made to face the music,” she said. There are so many cases similar to that of Wumi. Only recently, report by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) committee on girl child education informed that about 50, 000 Nigerian girls die from complications arising from wrong and poorly done abortions yearly.