Unpaid Bill: Ambode’s Wife Settles Account....

For the first time since he was born in February 2018, Baby Ighodalo Oaikhena joined his family at their home in the Ikeja area of Lagos State on Wednesday.

This was after the wife of the Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, paid his medical bill at the hospital where he was detained for three months.

Punch Metro had reported that Ighodalo was born premature at the Ifako General Hospital together with his twin sister.

The twins were taken to a private hospital, Inton Hospital, Ogba, Ikeja, where they were placed in incubators.


While the baby girl died in the first week, Ighodalo made it alive from the incubator and was put in a nursery.

The baby’s father, Michael Oaikhena, a driver; and the mother, Roseline, a teacher, had told Punch correspondent that they could not raise the N1.2m bill they incurred in the course of the treatment.

Michael had said despite the family paying N550,000 out of the bill, the hospital had insisted on collecting the N650,000 balance before releasing the baby.

He further alleged that the hospital threatened to take the child to an orphanage if the balance was not paid on time.

Although the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Mr Akeem Mustapha, denied the orphanage allegation, he insisted on the payment of the bill.

On Wednesday, Punch Metro learnt that a team of aides, acting on the instruction of Mrs. Ambode, visited the hospital and cleared the bill.

Punch correspondent gathered that it was an emotional moment as the mother of the child, Roseline, broke down in tears of joy.

“She did not believe that she would be taking the baby home as she kept asking, ‘Am I really going home with my baby today?’ The aides to the governor’s wife were moved as well, as some of them fought back tears,” a source, who was at the hospital, said.