A three-year-old boy, Emmanuel Samuel, died on Sunday
after he fell inside a well in front of a building on Hassan Sule Street, Ita
Oluwo, in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.
The kindergarten pupil, his elder brother, Timileyin
Samuel, and some of their friends were said to be playing around 3pm in the
area when the deceased accidentally strayed into the well.
PUNCH Metro learnt that residents and
officials of the Lagos State Fire Service, who came to the area after receiving
a distress call, had difficulties rescuing the victim due to the depth of the
well.
Our correspondent gathered that a member of the Oodua
People’s Congress later summoned up courage and went down the well to rescue
the boy at about 7pm. He brought out the boy dead.
It was learnt that the well was dug about eight years
ago by the landlord of the building but was abandoned when it did not produce
water.
Some youths were said to have become angry with the
landlord for leaving the well open. They reportedly stormed the residence and
broke some window glasses.
The landlord, Bamidele Ogunwole, was said to have been
arrested on Monday after the incident was reported at the Ogijo Police
Division, Ogun State.
The family members of the deceased were still wailing
on Monday when PUNCH Metro visited the area.
Emmanuel’s mother, Kikelolomo, who spoke in tears,
described the deceased as her “everything.”
She said, “He had
brothers and sisters, but he was my everything. He was very intelligent and
smart. It was his brother that rushed to tell me he had drowned.”
The father, Sergeant Abu Samuel, said what pained him
most was the fact that the landlord buried his child without his consent.
“I was on duty when I
was called that my son had drowned only to come back home and be told he was
dead. To add insult to injury, that man (the landlord) buried my child
somewhere in Agodo without my consent,” he said.
Residents described Emmanuel’s death as avoidable.One
of them, who identified herself only as Esther, said,
“It is very easy for
anybody to get trapped in a well that is left open like this. One of the man’s
tenants told me that they had complained several times to the landlord, but he
ignored them.”
The lawyer for the family, P.O. Idogun, accused the
police of “foot-dragging,” adding that no relative of the suspect had shown up
at the police station.
The Chairman of the community development association,
Alara Ogodo, blamed the suspect for burying the child without the approval of
his family.
The Ogun State Police spokesperson, DSP Muyiwa
Adejobi, said the landlord had presented himself to the police.
He said, “He is in our custody. We will do something about
the case.”
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