A pregnant woman who went into labour died yesterday after she was stalled by police officers for not putting on a face mask in the Ogun Waterside local government area in Ogun state.
It was gathered that the deceased, Waidat Adedeji, went into labour and was being carried on a motorcycle by her son to Ita-Otu General hospital when the motorcycle were stopped at Sowore checkpoint police officers. The police officers asked them why they were not wearing face masks and also disobeying government’s social distancing order.
The policemen delayed the motorcyclist and the pregnant woman for hours before they released them. The woman died some minutes after they were released.
Angry youths living in the area blamed the police for the woman’s death and took her corpse to Abigi Divisional Police Headquarters and dumped the corpse there.
While confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the state police command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, debunked the claim that police officers were the cause of the pregnant woman’s death.
He said: “Our officers were not responsible for the pregnant woman’s death. There were three occupants on a motorcycle as against the directive of the state government that only two people should occupy a motorcycle at a time. They were stopped and interrogated on why they did not obey the sit at home order. They informed the police that the woman was being conveyed to hospital for delivery, and having noticed that the woman was in pains, our men allowed them to proceed.”
