43-year-old man identified simply as Sanjo, has been arrested by the police for allegedly beating his child to death in Alekuwodo area of Osogbo, Osun state capital.
The state Commissioner for Women, Children and Social Affairs, Olubukola Olaboopo, who disclosed this in a statement, said the ministry got wind of the crime through a source, moved in and arrested the suspect.
The statement quoted Sanjo as saying he got married to his wife in 2008 and they had five children.
“It was the third child that I beat unintentionally to death.
“My wife left the child with me and she started crying. I did all I could to placate her, but she kept crying. Something just came upon me and I beat the two months old baby to death. My wife and I buried the child on our farmland,” he added.
But the statement said Sanjo’s wife, while being interrogated, claimed that four of their five children had died, leaving them with only the last child.
She explained that she conspired with her husband to kill two of the children due to poverty, while they dumped one child around the Osogbo Technical School area.
Olaboopo warned that the state government would not condone acts of violence and child abuse, vowing that anyone caught would face the wrath of the law.