BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA

LAGOS—A mob stopped a supposedly mad woman from kidnapping a two-year-old girl in Igbonla community, Sibiri area of Lagos, yesterday.

The ‘mad woman’ reportedly walked into a compound on 30 Afolabi Sekoni street, where the twins were in the care of their older sibling.

She was said to have offered the babies, a male and a female, identified as Victor and Victoria the sum of N100 each.

Frightened, their elder sister identified as Oluwatobi was said to have quickly carried the children and run inside, with the mad woman following, prompting her to raise an alarm, which attracted residents.

Expectedly, after hearing the older girl’s story, the mob descended on the woman.

But for the timely intervention of policemen, who arrived the scene and whisked the woman away, she would have been set ablaze.

A resident, Alahji Abudulazeez, stated that; “We were made to understand that the mad woman attempted to kidnap the twins.” The mad woman ran into a hospital and hid under the staircase when she was being beaten. It took a while before she was dragged out.

“When they opened her bag , we found a handset, different foreign currencies, cowries, coloured candles among other items.

“When she was asked to state her mission, she spoke in different dialects incoherently. Nobody could tell her exact sex, for she looked like a man dressed as a woman. Even when the policemen came

the crowd prevented them from rescuing the woman. It took combined effort of officials of Neighborhood watch and a reinforcement of operatives from Oto Awori to rescue the mad woman”

Mother of the twins, Mrs Akpesi Yusuf, told Vanguard that; “ We do not know what the mad woman’s mission was. We do not know how she located our make shift building from others around.

Later that day, some policemen came and took me and my children to the station for questioning. I was in police custody until a neighbour that brought a lawyer came and bailed me with N4000. They insisted I pay for the treatment of the madwoman”

However when vanguard arrived Ajagbandi division yesterday where the mad woman was said to have been taken to, it was gathered that she had been released.