The eight children found dead in a parked Honda Sport Utility Vehicle at Jah-Michael community, along Badagry Expressway, Olorunda LCDA axis of Lagos, have been laid to rest.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that the children aged four to six years old, had entered the parked SUV vehicle to play, mistakenly locked themselves and subsequently suffocated to death.
The children were discovered when one Saliat Kazeem, who wanted to feed her granddaughter, raised the alarm that the children were trapped inside the vehicle.
Two parents, Ibrahim Jubril and Isiaka Alidu, whose seven children were among the deceased said they had submitted to the will of God.
According to News Agency Of Nigeria, NAN, Ibrahim Jubril, said he lost four children in the incident.
“My four children, Abdul-Tayab, Mamood, (two boys); Aisat and Farida (girls) lost their lives inside the abandoned vehicle. I was inside this central mosque when people came to call me to come and see what happened to my children.
“Before I got to the scene, they have brought them out of the car. Nobody knows how they got inside the motor and locked themselves inside. As a Muslim, everything that happens in life comes from Allah, we believe that it is Allah that gives and take back at any time in life. My wife has also submitted to the will of Allah. We have buried our children according to Muslim rites and we are here at the mosque praying to Allah to forgive them their sins,” he said.
Another bereaved father, Isiaka Abdul-Wahab, said he lost three children in the incident.
“My two boys, Abdul-Wahab and Yakubu, then a girl, Zainab, just returned from Quranic school; after eating they started playing with their friends. I went to the mosque to pray for about an hour and from there I went to Quranic school to see a friend.
“Suddenly, my wife sent for me, when I got there, I saw the lifeless bodies of my children. We have submitted to the will of Allah because he is the one that gives and take,” he said.
In his reaction, Abdullahi Hassan, a Moslem leader in the area, urged the government to get to the root of the matter.
“This thing that happened to our children can happen to anybody. The findings will calm our youths down, so government should find out the fact of the incident,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Olorunda LCDA, Hon Samson Olatunde, who earlier visited the parents of the deceased and the scene, said the government is on top of the matter while appealing to the families and parents of the affected children to be calm.
He also appealed to residents of Jah-Michael community not to allow the incident cause further ethnic misunderstanding explaining that Mr. Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu is fully aware of the incident and that necessary authority such as Police is also doing their investigation to get to the root of the matter.
Discussion about this post