Traffic snarl along rickety Calabar-Uyo Federal Highway has forced a young woman into premature labour and delivery of a baby boy.
The woman was travelling from Ikot Ekpene town in Akwa Ibom State to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State over the weekend when the incident occurred.
The 26-year-old identified as Idiongoutom-Obong Sylvester, was said to be travelling for a church event when a road bump caused premature labour.
An eye witness who is her close friend, Josephine Akpan told Daily Post thta it was imperative that Idiongoutom-Obong undertook the tortuous road journey to Calabar, even though she was heavily pregnant.
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“I am not quite sure that she was up to nine months. She did not show signs that she was due for delivery as they left Ikot Ekpene.
“We belong to the same church Choir at 23 Aba Road, which was billed to compete with other Choirs from other parts of Nigeria in a choral festival.
“She refused to stay away from the competition having attended daily practices preparatory for the competition. We respected her insistence to participate in the competition because she was to sing the leading part.”
According to Josephine, they were travelling in a bus and the bad state of the Calabar-Uyo federal highway had forced Idiongutom to deliver her baby on the road as they were travelling to Calabar.
Josephine said as the bus kept jumping in and out of deep gallops, meandering away from fallen trucks and stuck in a traffic snarl, the heat emanating from the slow down affected her much.
“We heard when she began to scream in such a painful state even when we were on motion. Thank God that there were experienced sisters inside the bus. They knew that she was about to give birth. They called on the driver to halt. The men were asked to step down. They spread their wrappers inside the bus and had her lay. There were no medical experts. They prayed, became the midwives and brought out the baby boy..”
Josephine stated that after the delivery, Idiongoutom-Obong still insisted that she must take part in the choral competition.
