Oluwafunmilola Adisa had an unwanted baby 2018, when she was seeking admission to study law in university.
She claimed she was devastated, and, worse, the man who fathered the baby, Folarin Yusuf, just walked away. Oluwafunmilola (Funmilola for short) was about 20 then.
She however took out her frustration on the innocent baby she named Oluwanifemi. (Nifemi for short.)
She killed the girl—in a most heartless manner. The Ipaja police station where she turned herself in on Monday interrogated her. It was a chilling account of how she made desperate efforts to drown her child who struggled to survive all the attempts, but eventually died. After all, the girl was only 21 months old.
Funmilola earlier had a warning from her own sister she lived with on Plot 221 Gowon Estate, Ipaja, Lagos. Damilola dreamt the baby was drowned, and told her younger sister to keep the girl away from water.
But Funmilola just got an idea. She insisted the girl deserved to die anyhow—for bringing her ill luck.
“The reason I killed her is lack of financial help. I was ashamed, too,” she said. ‘When I gained admission to study law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, I got pregnant and deferred my admission. I later lost the admission later.”
The young mum had a number of plans when she first made up her mind to kill her daughter, before her sister warned her about the baby drowning.
“At first, I was thinking of strangling her, later I thought of suffocating her with a pillow, but my sister warned me to keep Nifemi away from water after she had a dream and that gave me the idea of drowning her.
“On Monday, around 2pm, Nifemi was kidding around whlie I dressed up, thinking I would take her out with me,” she said.
The girl didn’t know it was about the last moment she would have with her mum.
“I told her that she was not going anywhere, because she would die that day and I would be going to the police station after killing her.”
So Funmilola opened a big bucket of water, threw her baby in, and covered the bucket with a lid.,
The little girl struggled, and kicked out the lid.
“The water in the bucket was not much, so, I poured more water in it”
The girl struggled out again, and tried to catch some air.
“Then I turned her upside down, threw her in the bucket of water and closed it.
“After some time, I saw her floating and when I brought her out, she was still breathing. I put her in again and brought her out after some time,” she narrated.
But Nifemi was still breathing.
She dunked the girl back in the bucket again, the third time.
“I left her for some minutes till she died. I didn’t feel a thing killing her.”
So she fished the girl out of the bucket of water, tuck her corpse in bed sheets, covering the face with white cloth.
“I was sure she was dead. Her legs and hands were very pale; her tongue also shot out of her mouth.
“I also dropped a note I wrote to my sister Damilola beside her corpse. I wanted to let my sister know that I was the one who killed Nifemi and that I was going to report myself at the police station,” she said.
The note was full of accusations and dodging responsibility. Funmiola wrote about her sister’s fake love, fake generosity, advice, and spending.
‘The purpose of writing this letter is because Mama (Oluwanifemi) is dead. I soaked her inside a bucket filled with water and I am telling you to know that I have fulfilled it. Extend my greetings to father, pastor, friends. Goodbye forever, don’t look for me, save your money and invest,” the letter stated in part.
Funmilola had been telling her sister she would snuff life out of the girl. She was supposed to do it a day earlier but for Damilola who alerted their pastor, parents, and others that could stop the aspiring murderer.
Like all murderers, Funmilola justified her action by blaming her victim and connecting the two events.
“I felt I would be free if I kill her and would be able to go anywhere I like and no one would shame me as a single mother.”