A 19-year-old resident, Aliyu Yaro, has been arrested for allegedly strangling his three-day-old child.
The tragic event unfolded on November 7, 2024, when Yaro reportedly took the infant from his lover, Safiya, and buried the remains in a shallow grave inside an uncompleted building.
The chilling narrative reveals a young father overwhelmed by economic hardship and family responsibilities.
Safiya, the mother of the deceased, recounted the sequence of events leading to the tragedy.
“It’s true; he’s not been providing for me and my baby since I delivered three days before the incident. I’ve complained and threatened to report him to the authorities,” she explained.
On that ill-fated night, she left Yaro alone with the baby to buy water, only to return and find them both gone.
The following day, the police apprehended Yaro, but not before the irreversible act had been committed.
SP Suleiman Nguroje, spokesperson for the Adamawa State Police Command, confirmed the arrest, stating, “The Adamawa State Police Command has on the 8th November, 2024 apprehended a 19-year-old Aliyu Yaro for allegedly killing his 3-day old baby boy.” Nguroje added that during interrogation, Yaro confessed to the crime, citing his inability to provide for the child as his motive. He led the police to the burial site, where the infant’s body was exhumed.
In his confession, Yaro revealed the pressures he faced after impregnating Safiya. “He narrated that he had impregnated the mother of the deceased, who happens to be his girlfriend (now the complainant), and after delivery, she kept calling him to come and carry the baby,” Nguroje detailed. Yaro took the child under the guise of visiting, after sending Safiya on an errand, and later buried the corpse around 9:00 pm in the Girpata area of Mubi.
