A woman suspected to be the mother of a newborn baby, identified simply as Soliat, has told the police that she abandoned the child because she could not afford to take care of her
Soliat, who said she is from Oyo State, spoke off camera at the FCT Police Command in Abuja on Friday after the command traced her
She alleged that she became pregnant after she was gang-raped by four men in Keffi, Nasarawa State
According to her account, she gave birth to the baby and later placed her in a carton before abandoning her by the roadside around the Galadimawa area of Abuja
She said she hid nearby and watched until a Good Samaritan found the baby and took her to the Galadima Police Station
Soliat also told the police that she had attempted to terminate the pregnancy but was unsuccessful
She said her neighbours, who knew she was pregnant, recognised her after the story of the abandoned baby became public
According to her, she later moved from Keffi to Abuja to live with her brother but kept the pregnancy secret because she feared he would send her away if he found out
She said she was eventually confronted after the story of the abandoned baby went viral on social media, following which she admitted that the baby was hers
The FCT Police Command had earlier announced that it found and rescued a one-day-old baby girl who was abandoned inside a carton along a road in Galadima, Abuja, on September 12
The baby was subsequently handed over to the Social Welfare Department of the FCT Administration
The command had also recently recovered two other newborn babies who were abandoned and handed them over to the same department