A woman, Eunice Bright, has in a startling revelation narrated how one of her twin baby was taken from her by medical practitioner, Dr. Timothy Zeje after childbirth.
Giving her account of events in an interview on Arise News, the 32-year old mother who began her antenatal care at Divine Rain Maternity Clinic in April 2022, said she was informed via ultrasound that she was expecting twins.
However, she was not allowed to take the scan result home.
In May, she returned for a second scan. After persistent requests, the clinic reluctantly allowed her to take the scan result temporarily, with instructions to return it the following day. She complied.
“I went to the nurses to be able to convince them to carry my scan result home.
And they asked me that as I’m going, tomorrow morning I should return it back. I showed my husband everything, and the following day, I brought the scan result back to them. “
As her due date approached and she had not yet gone into labour, Mrs Bright-Ekwok consulted Dr Zeje about the possibility of a Caesarean section.
The procedure was approved, but she noticed that hospital staff only prepared clothes for one baby. When she enquired, she was told that one of the twins had shown signs of distress on the scan and would require oxygen support after birth.
“The doctor said that they will put oxygen on one of the twins after I gave birth to them,” Bright recalled, “they said that the child’s breathing is too high”.
During the delivery, her husband was reportedly denied access to the operating room. Mrs Bright was administered anaesthesia.
She recalled overhearing the nurses debate where to inject her
“I was hearing the nurses arguing that the doctor said ‘I should give her injection on her spinal cord.’ One said ‘no, on her shoulder’. The doctor was there and did not say anything. I was confused because they had given me injection on my spinal cord already. Why do you people want to give me injection on my shoulder? Eventually, they forced me and gave me the injection on my shoulder. Then I couldn’t remember anything.”
After delivery, only one baby was presented to her husband. Confused, he asked for the second child but received no explanation. When Mrs Bright regained consciousness and enquired about her second baby, she, too, was told nothing.
Later, Dr Zeje advised the couple to transfer the surviving baby to a specialist hospital in Gwagwalada, claiming the child needed urgent oxygen treatment. The baby was taken there by Mr Bright and a relative, while Mrs Bright remained at Divine Rain.
Shortly afterward, Dr Zeje discharged her. When she again demanded proof of the child’s death, she was again told the baby was dead and the body could not be shown.
“I am still struggling to come to terms with the loss and why my husband who had been in the hospital was not informed and handed the dead child for burial.”
Bright said her grief deepened when she later saw a baby with the doctor’s wife who looked exactly like her missing child, even sharing distinctive dreadlocks.
“I noticed the baby looked just like mine, when we confronted the doctor, he refused to release my child.” she said
Dr Zeje, who denied the allegation of child theft, said the matter was being investigated by the police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command.