The Kano State Fire Service on Wednesday said it rescued a newborn baby thrown inside a latrine by an alleged mentally challenged mother, (name withheld) at Sabon Titi quarters, Gidan Kankara in Kano.
This is contained in a statement by the Public Relations Officer of Kano State Fire Service, Alhaji Saminu Abdullahi, who said that the incident occurred on Wednesday morning.
He said that the service received a distress call from a member of its staff, Ibrahim Umar-Muhammad, around 10:49 a.m. and immediately dispatched a rescue team to the scene.
He added that “upon receiving the information, we quickly dispatched our rescue team and a vehicle to the scene at about 10:54 a.m.
According to the statement, Muhammed said that the mentally challenged mother, who also had another six-year-old daughter, gave birth to the newborn and dumped the baby in a latrine.
“Fortunately, the six-year-old daughter quickly raised an alarm about her mother’s actions and with good efforts of neighbours and firemen, the baby was rescued alive.
He said the mother was handed over to her grandfather, Abubakar Umar-Usman of Sabon Titi quarters to take the newborn to the hospital for medical attention.
He alleged that the incident might have resulted from the suspicion that the newborn came out of wedlock.