This story leaves me speechless. A nine-year-old boy, identified only as Kingsley, was on Thursday abandoned at a filling station at Adetola bus stop on Ijaiye Road, Agbado, Lagos State, by his mother.
It was learnt that the mother, Blessing, allegedly tortured him for greeting a neighbour.
She was said to have brought the boy from Ojuelegba, where they live and dumped him at the station around 7am.
Punch Metro gathered that Blessing left the area after telling the child that she wanted to buy some items at a nearby shop.
Some Good Samaritans, however, later bought food for the kid before he was taken to the Ijaiye Police Station around 11am.
Kinglsey’s body was full of scars for which he held his mother responsible.
“Mummy beat me because I greeted our neighbour. She and the neighbour are quarrelling and she warned me not to greet her. She beat me with a stick when she saw me with the woman,” Kingsley said.
The primary two pupil said he had been a victim of malnutrition and abuse since her parents divorced each other.
“My mother and I moved to Lagos from Calabar (Cross River State) after she divorced my daddy.
“I live in Ojuelegba with her and my stepfather, Jonathan. She beats me every day.
“She will give me lashes for not waking up early to do domestic chores. At times, she won’t give me food to punish me.”
An employee of the filling station, who gave his name only as Deji, lamented Kingsley’s situation. He said the mother would be attacked by an angry mob if she came back.
“I don’t know what the world is turning to. When some families are still praying to have children, a mother is maltreating her own to the point of dumping him. What could he have done to warrant being treated in such a heartless manner?
“This place was crowded in the morning and we did not know when she dumped him. He was sitting in a tricycle when I approached him. Some angry youths just left here. They would have given his mother the beating of her life if she had come back.”
A Good Samaritan, who did not want his name in print, said he saw the boy sitting helplessly in a corner in the filling station.
He added that the boy was so hungry that he gulped the food and drink that were bought for him.
He said, “I was coming back from the office and popped over to buy petrol.
“I saw the boy sitting in a corner. There was blood in his head and hands. We decided to buy him rice and a drink. He was taken to the Ijaiye Police Station and they promised to take him to hospital to treat his injuries.”
The Supervisor of the filling station, Adeola Olufunwa, said she was nearly detained at the station on the matter.
She said, “I was the one who noticed the boy’s presence around us and I alerted my colleagues.
“But funny enough, the police wanted to detain me for a case I knew nothing about.”
The Lagos Police Spokesperson, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, promised to get back to our correspondent.
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