The Ogun State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Adijat Adeleye, has confirmed that the state has taken legal custody of a two-day-old baby found abandoned at Sayedero Market in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area. The baby, discovered by a woman last week and initially handed over to the police, became the subject of controversy after viral videos surfaced alleging the child had gone missing following the intervention of state officials.

Addressing journalists in Abeokuta on Thursday, Adeleye clarified that the baby was in safe condition and had been taken into protective custody by the ministry in line with due process. She dismissed the viral claims as a deliberate attempt to “emotionally blackmail the government and mislead the public,” and emphasized that the woman who found the baby had no legal claim to adopt the child. “We don’t give a child up for adoption in an environment where their stories are known,” she said.

The commissioner reiterated that all abandoned children in the state are regarded as wards of the government, with the sitting governor considered their symbolic parent. “Any child found in Ogun State belongs to the state government… They are all children of the governor,” she stated. Adeleye further warned that no individual or orphanage has the right to initiate adoption without ministry approval and vowed to prosecute anyone attempting unauthorized adoption for abduction.