by Oge Okonkwo

Residents of Atimbo community in Calabar, Cross River State were thrown into mourning over the death of a one-year-three-months-old baby boy who was allegedly killed by his mother.

20-year-old  Ikwo Udoh Bob, was said to have killed her baby boy by forcing him to drink a poisonous substance suspected to be insecticide in the early hours of Friday.

Udoh Bob was said to have had a fall out with the man suspected to be responsible for her pregnancy before the baby was born and was alleged to have told some close friends that she wanted to have an abortion.

The Sun reports:

According to the neighbours’ accounts, the young mother was piqued that she was abandoned by her lover-boy at the most critical moment of her life even when she pleaded with the man to financially support her after delivery of the baby.

Frustrated that the alleged father of the baby failed to provide financial support for the upkeep of the infant after delivery, Ikwo allegedly killed her young son.

Speaking to our correspondent in tears, the father of the young woman, Mr. Udoh Bob, said, “Yesterday was the second time my daughter attempted to kill the boy, named Victor.”

Narrating the incident, Bob, who is a timber dealer and a native of Eket in Akwa Ibom State, said in an emotion-laden tone, “I left the house in the morning on that Friday without sensing any ominous sign that my daughter was hatching such an evil plan. I don’t know what to tell you now but I want to believe that God knows the whole thing. Before I left the house in the morning yesterday, the boy called me daddy as usual and waved at me. I waved back only to return and was told he was dead. I took over the responsibility of caring for the mother and child after the young man who impregnated her denied her and ran away,” he said in an emotion-laden tone.”

He recalled that there was a day he noticed the boy foaming from the mouth and he quickly gave him palm oil to drink, an act, which, he said, neutralized the effect of the poison, adding, “Now that this has happened, I believe she attempted to kill the boy then, but God did not allow it.”