[Sharon]

The man, who is a welder, has been identified as Usman Inuwa and the corpse of the young child is his son, Goodluck.

According to reports, Inuwa’s wife left him about a month ago (at time of incident in September 2012), following incessant quarrels between them. The nursing mother was said to have moved out of their one- room apartment.

A man who claimed to have known Inuwa for about nine years stated that the father must have been under a spell to have killed his child, whom he said was well cared for.

From local news article at the time:

The police have arrested a man, Usman Inuwa, with the corpse of a three-year -old child in a suitcase.

The suspect resident in Bwari, a satellite town in Abuja, was said to have been arrested by security personnel after a tip-off at Maitama area of the city.

He was said to have been accosted by security operatives who demanded that he should open the suitcase.

The suspect, who initially tried to bluff his way out of the situation, had his suitcase forcibly opened and the corpse of the young child packed in a fetal position was found in it.

Our correspondent gathered that investigators interrogating him were working on the theory that he might have been recruited by someone to bring the corpse for ritual purposes. It is believed that Inuwa might have kidnapped and killed his victim.

The police said that they were working to unravel the identity of the child with a view to tracing his parents and getting other information that would lead to the arrest of other suspects.

The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Doris England, who confirmed Inuwa's arrest, added that the suspect had yet to mention the names of his accomplices.

"The suspect was arrested at Maitama on Saturday and is presently in custody undergoing interrogation; he has yet to name his accomplices and other issues surrounding the dead child," England said.

I read that this incident could also be connected with some Nigerian people's tendency to indulge in "fetish" and superstition/sorcery.

Definition given HERE

Strange case nonetheless.

[Bastet]

Goodluck Anything but.

[LadyCPlum]

What a sick sonofabitch

[freddynyc]

Where's the rubber tire when you really need it...??

[blancadon]

Yowza!

[Darkest Angel]

Goodluck turned out not to be a good name choice.

[Jere]

[Shakey]

[Col. Mustard]

I'll take travel tips anywhere I can get them. If packing kid bodies in the fetal position prevents me from needing to iron out wrinkles upon arrival, then I'm on board.

[Pyramid_Head]

Parenting; you're doing it wrong.