It was a bright sunny day yesterday , after an early morning downpour , but darkness was all that the people of Irewe, a riverine community in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State, could see.
The serene community was plunged into mourning last Wednesday when the driver of fibre flying boat rammed into a canoe conveying 12 students in the community to school, killing six of them instantly.
From one part of the community to the other, the downcast residents gathered in small groups discussing the calamity that befell them. The homes of the bereaved families were filled to the brim with sympathizers coming to offer their condolences.
Such was the mood at the home of Pa Kayode Tay, a 76-year-old man who lost his grandson, Nathaniel, in the accident. He looked disconcerted ,yet to come to terms with the loss of the 13-year-old boy he described as his source of joy.
“ I am a sad man,” he said,shaking his head. “This incident is a big blow to me at this age when my children and grandchildren should be the ones to bury me when my time comes to meet my creator.
“ Unfortunately, it is the other way round today.”
Nathaniel,he said, “ was my grandchild, my source of happiness and the only child of his mother. He was living with me until his death on Wednesday at 13 years .
“He was planning to write his entrance examination into secondary school. On that fateful day, he complained that he had headache.
“ I asked if he would be able to go to school, he answered in the affirmative saying that he had a mock examination to write.
“I could have made him stay back but I consented that he should go because of the examination. He left around 8:30. At about 10:15, information came that some pupils were involved in an accident on the water.
Unfortunately, my grandson that was very dear to me was among the deceased.”
Debunking the story that the pupils drowned, he said: “Eyewitnesses said they were almost at the shore when a fibre boat driven by an illegal oil bunkerer rammed into them. They said the driver had an ear piece in his ears and on top speed while the other person with him was fast asleep.
“The hapless pupils were screaming as he was moving close to them but the earpiece didn’t allow him to hear them. The paddler of their canoe was caught unawares.
“ Before they knew what was happening, he had rammed into them killing six instantly. Their heads and faces were badly damaged when we brought them out.
So, it wasn’t a capsize as the public have been made to believe.
“They didn’t also drown but were killed on the spot by the reckless bunkerer. If they had merely fallen inside the iver, my boy could have swum his way out. He wouldn’t have died. I am deeply pained by his untimely death.”
He said he would miss Nathaniel because: “He always assisted me to farm and fish. He planted almost everything I have at the farm .”
The father of the deceasedmet him, Felix, was almost speechless when The Nation met him.
All he could say was: ” I saw him that very day but I never knew that was the last time I would see him. The government should do everything possible to forestall a reoccurrence.”
Florence Akindele and her sister, Hannah Ajigbo, lost their daughters, Patience and Josephine in the incident. They were 16 and 18 years old respectively. Before leaving for her place of work that morning, Florence, recalled that she had instructed the deceased to attend to some pressing needs during her break time.
She could not reach the school or carry out the assignment given her.
“When I was going out, I instructed her to take some of my clothes to a friend and also help me sort out my daily contribution matter during her break time. I was midway into my journey when I heard about the incident. I wanted to turn back but the driver of the canoe said I shouldn’t bother. I insisted on returning home because it was not quite long after my daughter left for school.
“Getting to the scene of the incident, a student teacher in their school broke the bad news to me.”
She alleged that the police have not been fair to the bereaved families, because,according to her “ When we went to the station today (Friday) on the invitation of the police, one of us angrily said that the canoe that caused the accident should have been burnt. On hearing that, a top officer at the station asked his men to put all of us inside cell. I got angry and asked him if he would be happy to train a child to that level in life and somebody would recklessly kill her?
He responded by asking whether they were the ones that killed our children. That was very callous of him. We want justice to be done. “
She also appealed to the state government to provide life jackets for the students in the area, saying: “ Our community has the largest population in this community and it is imperative that they build a secondary school for us so that our children would not have to risk their lives on water everyday. As a stop gap, they could provide life jackets for all the pupils to enable them stay afloat in the event that any problem occurs on the river.”
Her sister, Hannah described the incident as a big blow to the family.
Wilson Jimoh Feikun, 43, and his wife, Patience, remained inconsolable yesterday,their eyes still tear filled.
After much persuasion ,Patience said: “My son, Nelson,13, was in primary six.
He overslept that morning and I had to ask somebody to wake him up so that he could get ready to go to school.
He then bathed his younger ones and took them to school before coming to dress up to go to school.
“When he was ready, he came to say bye to me but I never knew that he was bidding me the final goodbye.”
Explaining how news of the tragedy reached him,Nelson’s father said: “I was fishing with my brother at the sea when he (Nelson) came to bid me bye.
Moments afterwards, a woman ran towards my brother and whisphered some words into his ears.She then turned to me,saying some pupils fell inside the river.
“Without knowing who they were, I ran without waiting to wear my shirt to the spot of the incident. It was there that I was told that my son was one of the victims. My brother’s son also died. We quickly jumped into the river in search of their bodies but found none until about 5pm.
“Later, somebody came up with an idea that helped us to bring out three bodies that day.
“Unfortunately, my son and his cousin were not among them.
We went home that night traumatised and unable to sleep all through the night.
“ As early as 5 am on Thursday, we returned to the river. After so much attempts, my son’s body was brought out at about 9am. We continued until my brother’s son and the last victim were found. We took them home and buried them.
“Nelson was a very brilliant boy. He wished to become a lawyer but death has shattered his dream.
> It is agonising.”
Wilson’s brother, Friday Jimoh Fiekun and his wife, Veronica, also lamented the death of Jonathan, their 16- year-old son. Friday who was fishing with his brother when the incident occurred said: “My son had the ambition of becoming a medical doctor and I was joyfully looking forward to when he would achieve that ambition. It is a painful loss that will take a very long time to ease off.
The traditional ruler of the community Oba Adekambi Durosinmi Agunbioyinbo II, Osolu of Irewe, appealed to the Lagos State government to turn the only secondary school in the area to a boarding school to save the children from the risk of travelling on water every day.
” There are 37 villages under me stretching as far as Whispering Palm in Badagry and we have just one secondary school for our numerous children. We have about nine primary schools and all the pupils graduate from there to attend the secondary school.
” We appeal to the government to provide life jackets for the children of different age grades coming from far places on water to school here. There are jackets for the adults but there are none for the children.
“Aside from life jackets, we want the government to make our secondary a boarding school so that these children would not have to risk their lives travelling on the water to get to the school.
“At present, we have a four-bedroom flat hostel for the teachers but that is still not enough because a lot of them come by water everyday to the school. The government should help look into this and also give us more teachers because there are not enough teachers to teach the students.”