I lost my only 3 sons to the tragedy- Father of Festac boat mishap victim cries out

The life ambition of Mr. Emmanuel Adeolu Adekile to have his
three male children preserve his family name and heritage may
have been dashed with the unexpected death of all his teenage
boys in Tuesday night’s canoe mishap in which 13 persons died and 11
rescued in Festac area of Lagos .
The bereaved father told Saturday Sun this much at his residence
when he declared that the tragedy has succeeded in wiping out his
lineage. Adekile has five children, three of whom are male.
He looked not only forlorn but withdrawn as he managed to relay how
he learnt about the tragedy that cost him his three sons in one fell
swoop.
“The three of them were very brilliant. They told me what they
wanted to be in future: Timothy wanted to be a doctor, Joshua,
an architect, and Paul wanted to be a lawyer. It is so sad.”
Adekile fought back tears as he again managed to mumble some words,
asking no one in particular some questions. “How do I begin my life
again? These were the only boys I have, the other two are girls.
What would I tell them when they ask of their brothers? Who will
continue to bear my name after I’m gone?”
“The eldest Timothy was a junior student of the Festac Junior
Grammar School, he was 12 years old, Joshua, the second was
about 9 years old and Paul was only 7 years old. Joshua and
Paul were pupils of the Universal Primary School in 3rd avenue
in Festac Town”, he struggled to reveal.
He relapsed again, fought to keep tears away, he put his two hands on
his head in apparent grief, an act he repeated several times while
narrating how the incident happened. His words: “Their mum sent
two of them out at about 6pm to get some money from a
customer that owed her in the same area. They didn’t have to
enter a canoe to get to where they were sent.
“I was later told that while they were on their way, they saw their
friend, Mustapha, son of the widow, Mrs. Memuna Mohammed
who also died in the mishap. He was with his younger sister,
Sariyu Mohammed heading to 5th Avenue to give their mother
her evening food and they needed to use the canoe for that
journey.
“As friends, they volunteered to go with Mustapha, to assist in
arranging her mother’s shop since she sells food in the evening.
I came home at 7.30pm, and as usual my wife served me dinner
and I ate. I kept asking her if she knew why the boys were yet to
return home.
“It was while we were still arguing that the news broke to us that
the canoe had sunk in the river. And the first question I asked
was ‘I hope my children weren’t on it?’ And then at that time,
their mum became agitated and wailing, she ran helter skelter
looking for them. She went to the woman, she had sent the
children to and the woman told her she hasn’t seen our children.
Then we began to search for them, when it was around 9pm that
day, we got news that my children were involved in the boat
mishap.
“I immediately rushed down to the river where they said it had
happened. By the time I got there, they were already bringing out
victims from the river. And when it was getting towards 10 pm,
they eventually brought out the bodies of my three sons. I just
became numb, it didn’t occur to me to try resuscitate them by
pressing them hard on the chest or doing anything that might
help. I was just broken and couldn’t do anything. I managed to
examine the head of one of them and discovered that it was
already very stiff and there was nothing that could be done
anymore to bring them back alive, I left the scene. By the time
we would return to the place the following morning with our
church’s vehicle with the aim of taking the bodies, they said the
government people have come to carry them.
“We were then referred to the Amuwo Odofin Local Government
Area’s office. The local government officials further referred our
people to Alausa and even said we should wait for further
developments and we would be duly notified. I know the matter
is now in government hands since the boys are already dead.”
Still wailing, he said: “I am 47 years old now and my wife is 44.
We had our first baby in 1996 but she also died after a brief
illness. The three boys who were drowned were my first, second
and third born. They were the only males I have. Now that they
are gone, I have no sons to answer my name after I’m gone. The
remaining children are girls. This is too much for me to bear.”
Adekile, who hails from Ijebu-Ijesa in Oriade Local Government
Area of Osun State, works as as a carpenter in 6th Avenue in
Festac town. He told the reporter that he and other artisans in the
estate were assisted by some compassionate wealthy people to stay
temporarily in some of the yet to be occupied pieces of land there
where they built some shanties with wood. Right now they have an
accommodation challenge as the owners of the piece of land they live
have asked them to leave some weeks ago.
So also were the lamentations of Felicia Okunbor, mother of one of
the victims of the Tuesday night boat mishap, Festus Uyi Okunbor.
Weeping uncontrollably at their residence on 22 Road, Festac town,
she said: “Where did you say my son went to? Please, bring him
back for me, I cannot live without him. Uyi, please come home,
your mother is waiting.”
Her husband, Emmanuel Okunbor, who could not hold back tears even
as neighbours and relatives tried to console him, told Saturday Sun
how his beloved son died for the love of friends.
He said Festus, a computer software engineer, had moved to Lekki
where he was managing a business for a friend who lives abroad.
“He has relocated to Lekki for about six months now but he
always finds time to visit us to know how we are doing. He is not
my first son but he is one son that had a good heart and loved
his parents and siblings. No matter how busy he was, he must
check on us.
“But on the day he drowned and died, he came as usual to see
us. You can see how sick I am, so he comes here to know how
am doing. After spending sometime with us, he said he wanted to
go and see his friends at 6th Avenue, he said it has been long he
saw them and wanted to go and play with them. My son
promised to come back before he goes back to Lekki but he
never did. Am still waiting and hoping that I will wake up from
this dream and my Uyi will come back to this house to see us
the way he always did”.
On how the news was broken to them, the 62-year-old father of the
late Festus said it was some people that saw him board the ill-fated
boat that told them.
He said: “We overheard people discussing about the incident and
somebody among them saw my wife and said ‘your son was also
involved in the incident’. My wife tried to find out where our son
is and his state and they told her that he was not dead, that he
had been taken to the hospital. In the morning, we went to the
hospital only to find out he was dead. My heart was broken
because my joy has gone”.
Madam Felicia, a petty trader and Festus’ mother, who cried like a
baby, said: “It cannot be true. Who will look after me, who will do
the things he does for me? I know he is not dead, I know he will come
back. He said he went to see his friends and play with them a little, he
will return and very sure he is still with his friends”.
The reality of the death of their son dawned on the Okunbors when
one of the survivors, Blessing visited to console them.
Blessing said: “We were in the boat together and when it
capsized, everybody was struggling to escape. The struggle for
life was so intense that some of the passengers were pushing
back those who could swim into the canal. I had to swim a
distance back to where the boat took off from and that was how I
was saved”.
Saturday Sun also gathered that it was in the confusion that ensued
during the struggle to escape being drowned that the underage paddler
was pushed back into the canal. He also died.
Meanwhile, when Saturday Sun visited the scene on Thursday
evening, it was observed that the ill-fated boat has been set ablaze by
aggrieved youths who claim that they had warned the operators to
either repair or change the boat.
The site has since turned into a mecca of sorts as people keep coming
and going.
A lady, who later identified herself as Chidinma, said she still finds it
hard to believe that people died in that river. “This canal has been
existing for years, in fact, this is the route that we normally
follow to school when I was in primary school. That was 19
years ago. We have never heard that anyone died, even if the
boat capsizes, people will just swim across. It is rather
unfortunate and a mystery. I thank God that it wasn’t during
school hour, otherwise the number of casualties would have
doubled.”
Others who spoke with Saturday Sun alleged that they had made
several efforts to build the bridge on their own but the local government
authority refused. “Forget all those claims by government that
they have plans to build this and that. We have volunteered
severally to sponsor the construction of a bridge but they
refused, insisting that the money must be given to them. We have
even given them the estimate and they doubled it because they
wanted to gain from it. I hope that with this incident, they will
allow us construct this bridge”, an aggrieved resident stated.

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