Farmer discovers abandoned newborn girl eaten by soldier ants in Benue

A farmer identified as Joy Kwatse has narrated how she discovered an abandoned newborn girl on the way to her farm at Adaka, a suburb of Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State.

Kwatse who said that the baby girl was wrapped in a nylon paper had initially mistaken it for snake before she summoned the courage to open the nylon.

“It was a baby girl that was wrapped and dropped on the road to my farm,” she said.

The female farmer told newsmen that on sighting the nylon she ran to the main road to draw the attention of passersby to it.

“I thought it was a snake because it moved. Because I was afraid, I did not go close but decided to go to the roadside and beckoned on passersby. I called an okada man but he was too afraid to go close to it and he quickly fled.”

Kwatse said having summoned the courage to open the nylon, she saw the body of the baby girl being eaten up by soldier ants.

She said: “I summoned courage, clutched my scapular (Catholic rosary) and dragged it. Then I noticed that it was a child struggling for survival. She had mud all over her body even as soldier ants had eaten her head, face and buttocks.”

The farmer said that she wrapped the decaying and smelly body and took her to D Division Police station where she was referred to the command headquarter.

The baby girl who was found on October 26, 2021, was later referred to Olive Vine Children Health Center located at Kwararafa quarters in Makurdi.

The medical director of the centre, Julie Okoko, who confirmed the admission of the baby at the centre, however, declined to comment further and asked our correspondent to call back as she was busy.

Meanwhile, the State Command spokesperson, DSP Catherine Anene, when contacted said she was not aware of the report.

“I am not aware of this, please,” Anene said.

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