• I didn’t send him to fill my gas cylinder – Mother
• We lose our children this way every year –Residents
Grief, anguish and indeed gnashing of teeth was the scene at the residence of Mrs. Enem Ozichukwu whose only child was swept off by flood two saturdays ago.
Joy Anyim
Mrs. Enem Ozichukwu and her family will forever remember October 12, 2019 with pain. That black Saturday, Mrs. Ozichukwu, an indigene of Enugu State, lost Miracle, the only child she was blessed with in her 12 years of marriage to flood, following the heavy rain that fell that day at Ikola Bridge on Alabede Road, Aboru, Lagos.
Although she was reported to have sent the 11-year-old and his cousin, Obinna, 16, to go and refill the gas cylinder, the food vendor debunked the claim, stressing to The Nigerian Xpress that she did nothing of such.
The cousins, it was learnt, had left the house for Ozichukwu’s shop that rainy day. They had barely walked for 45 mins from their Heritage Estate home to Ikola Bridge when they were greeted by massive flood, a usual episode in that area whenever it rains heavily.
While trying to pass through the flooded area, the duo slipped and fell into a drainage leading to a canal in the area.
While one Fasina Yusuf Adisa was able to rescue Obinna alive, another, simply identified as Wasiu, who also jumped into the flood to rescue Miracle, could not.
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Wasiu and Miracle were unfortunately swept away by the heavy flood.
When The Nigerian Xpress newspaper visited Mrs. Ozichukwu, who occupies a room and parlour self-contained apartment in the estate, she was found playing host to friends, neighbours and family members, who had come to sympathise with her.
Looking helpless and tired, she narrated a pathetic story of how her husband left her 10 years ago, in search of greener pasture in Europe, and has since not returned to Nigeria. Mrs. Ozichukwu said she had been solely responsible for Miracle’s upbringing.
According to her: “Miracle was my only child, I have been taking care of him for the past 10 years since his father left us for Europe.”
Speaking further on how the bitter incident played out, she said: “First, I did not send Miracle and Obinna to go and refill my gas cylinder. What actually happened was that a day before the incident, Friday, I was feeling feverish. I was at my shop where I sell food that Friday morning till later in the afternoon when Miracle returned from school. He noticed I was not my usual self. He asked what was wrong and I told him I had symptoms of malaria.
“He asked me to go home, that he and my sales girl would handle the shop. I yielded to his advice, called the motorcyclist, Baale, that always carries us home, to come to take me home. While at home, I called a nurse to come to treat me. That Friday evening, it was Miracle and my sales girl that stayed in the shop and even closed for the day. Baale brought him home that Friday.
“On Saturday morning, when he woke up, he made his way straight to the bathroom. He wanted to go take his bath and prepare to go to the shop. I asked him not to worry that I was better and can go to the shop. I even told him it was even raining, that he could not go out in the rain. I took my bath, dressed up and left for business. Before leaving the house, I told him and Obinna, who had just come from the East, three days before that day, not to leave the house. I told them there was food at home and that I would tell Baale to come to pick them from home to the shop later.
“So, I went to the shop, cooked, and had attended to three customers when a neighbour came to my shop and asked me of Miracle. I told him that he was at home. The man was just acting strange, he asked me to give him food to eat. I gave him. It was while he was eating that another neighbour ran into my shop, holding her phone up.
“She said my elder sister was on the other side of the line, and she wanted to speak with me. I was surprised and wondered why my sister did not call my line directly, moreover, she had just left Lagos some 10 days back when she visited me. When I took the phone from my neighbour, all I heard my sister shouting was ‘my pikin o, water o’, I could not make sense of what she was saying because she was crying and her voice was shaky. But immediately she mentioned Miracle, I collapsed and that was all I could remember.
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“When I opened my eyes hours later, I was at home, in bed, on a drip, and surrounded by people. I asked them what was going on and immediately requested to see my son. They told me he was fine. I persisted on knowing his whereabouts, but they just told me to be calm. It was later they told me what happened.”
Insisting that she had never sent Miracle to refill gas cylinder, Ozichukwu said Miracle’s decision to leave the house that fateful day for her shop was out of love. She continues: “Contrary to what journalists, who did not even care to find out the truth said, I did not send my son to go and refill the gas cylinder. It is Baale, who is my personal motorcyclist, that goes to refill my gas cylinder. I pay him N12,000 monthly for our transportation. When I was asking Obinna why they left the house after I had warned them not to, he told me that after they had waited for a while and Baale did not show up, Miracle told him they should start trekking down, that they would see Baale along the road or take another bike to the shop.
“Obinna said while they were going, they stopped several commercial motorcyclists, who said they were not going, that the road was flooded. But he said Miracle insisted that he wanted to get to the shop so that I can come back home to rest, while he stays back to oversee the business. My son was just being caring and considerate like he always was. He felt I was sick and needed to rest, so he wanted to come to help me, but fate had a different plan,” she said.
Resigning to fate, the distraught mother said she had handed all to God. “I cannot question God. He was my only son and only child; he had great aspirations but I believe this is what God wants for him,” she said.
Recounting fun memories of her son, whose body is yet to be recovered, Ozichukwu told this correspondent that the loss of her son is still a big shock to her. She said she wonders how a boy, who is always full of life could just die like that.
“He had told me he wanted to study to become a doctor in the future and I had also given him my word to sponsor his education at all cost. He had just started his secondary school education this session. He chose the secondary school where he wanted to attend, and I paid N65,000 as school fees. For the past 10 years, it has been Miracle and me. His father travelled out 10 years back and has since not returned home. This boy even promised to take me abroad when he grew up since his father had refused to come to fetch us. My baby was a sweet boy, I can’t believe that a boy, who was healthy is gone,” she burst into tears.
“Somebody came here to tell me that I should raise N10,000 so that they can pay local divers to go in search of my son’s body. People have come to us, taken his pictures to church, I really wish all of these can bring him back alive,” she lamented.
Okechukwu Obinna, one of Miracle’s cousins, who cheated death, told The Nigerian Xpress all about how what they saw as an adventure turned to a pain that their family will forever live to remember. The soft-spoken Obinna said the whole incident is still like a mirage to him.
He said: “That Saturday, after we finished eating, Miracle suggested we set out because Baale was delaying. He said he wanted us to get to the shop on time so that his mother can come back to the house and rest. I told him we cannot leave the house at that time, seeing it was still raining heavily. He should let us set out when the rain has subsided. But he insisted we leave the house. He said we would most likely meet Baale on our way. We kept walking and Baale was not in sight. We even stopped other motorcyclists, but they all said they were not going towards our direction.
“Some of the motorcyclists even told us to return home, that the road was terribly flooded, but we persisted. When we got to the bridge, the flood was massive. We saw some people passing on one side of the road and we followed suit. I took the lead while Miracle followed me. But as we put our legs on the sides of the road that was flooded, we did not know it was a drainage; we started sinking, I was trying to hold Miracle, but the flood covered him up. I was taller, so my head was still up. Immediately some men who were there saw my head they rushed to me, rescued me and I was shouting for them to also rescue my brother, one of them jumped into the flood, but they said his head hit the concrete side of the drainage. He probably lost consciousness and the flood swept him away.”
Paul Olaoluwa Otoiorin, a friend and colleague of Wasiu, said the death of the rescuer was a painful one. Otoiorin said the late Wasiu, whose remains were found at Command, Ipaja, and buried last Tuesday at the area, was the breadwinner of his family. “Wasiu was a security guard at Alagbede Gas Filling Station. He was also a member of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC. He had a five-year-old daughter, though separated from his wife. His mother is still very much alive. Until his death, he was the breadwinner of his family, he was very hardworking.
“He would work as a security guard at night and work as a commercial motorcyclist during the day. He was loved by many, easy-going and very friendly. The day this incident happened, we were all standing in front of a shop close to the bridge after we had closed from work because most OPC members work, as a security guard here and we also close 8 a.m. We were just drinking and having a nice time that rainy morning when we saw the boys struggling to pass through the flood.
“They had passed the first part of the flood and were on the second part when they lost their balance. Wasiu immediately jumped into the water to rescue the boys, but it was unfortunate that we lost him. We don’t know the boys. Wasiu was just moved out of compassion and fatherly love to help rescue the boys, as the flood had already overpowered them.”
Adisa, Obinna’s rescuer said: “I rescued Obinna while Wasiu was about to rescue Miracle. The boys were walking on the pavement of the gutter, they missed their steps, fell into the gutter and that was when we quickly tried to rescue them. The gutter leads to the canal. So, the flood swept them away.
Blaming the incident largely on government, Adisa pointed that Miracle’s death could have been averted. His words: “This death could have been avoided if we had a responsible government. What does it cost them to fix the road and the bridge? This is not even the first time people are dying when the area becomes flooded. We have had cases of children that had been swept away by flood this way in this area. We cannot continue like this.”
Closely supporting him on this was an elderly woman, Alhaja Kudirat, who lamented the state of the road, saying the area is only remembered during political campaigns.
“When they want us to vote for them, they will come to us campaigning and begging us to give them our votes, with a promise to fix our roads but once they get there, they forget their promise. We keep hearing of millions and billions of naira in the news. I wonder what they are spending much money on if we don’t have good roads, no good health facility, no basic amenities. The community has been doing palliative works, but that is not enough, as it only gives temporary succour. We want a permanent solution to