5th September, 2019
Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), has confirmed that a surviving child in family of six that died in a room in Lagos on Wednesday has also died.
Oke-Osanyintolu confirmed the development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday.
He said that the child was confirmed dead at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
According to him, the surviving child, who was rushed to LASUTH on Wednesday for further treatment, has also been confirmed dead.
“Baba Ibeji, wife and five children, all residents of No 19, Olowoira Street, Mafoluku, that were rushed to Divine Hospital on that same street on Wednesday were confirmed dead.
“LASEMA has done the needful.
“We took the bodies, including the last child who has also died, to the mortuary at LASUTH for autopsy and further investigations,” Oke-Osanyintu said.
He said that the cause of the tragedy was unknown, adding that investigation was ongoing on the matter.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who visited the house where the incident took place, reported that the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government had sealed up the building to protect the other tenants.
One of the residents, Mr Kamoru Ajayi, said that their death was a shock to everyone in the house, adding that the deceased was an electrician named Zakariyahu Owojobi who was popularly known as `Cool Money’.
He said Owojobi died with his pregnant wife, four children and a cousin who came on holiday, adding that they had been living in the house for over 13 years now.
He said that a customer, who wanted to buy a bag from the wife, came and knocked at their door, but nobody answered and the co-tenants assisted her to open the door when they discovered that four of them were already dead.
An official of the Divine Hospital said the mother as well as her unborn child were already dead before rushing them to the hospital.
The official told NAN that the surviving child was still alive before LASEMA took him and the other deceased to LASUTH.
One of the landlord’s daughters, Mrs Adija Badaru, said the deceased cooked dinner in previous night and her 17-year-old daughter, who ate with them, was still alive.
She said that the family members did not die from food poisoning since the immediate neighbour of the deceased and her child who had dinner with them were still alive.
Badaru said that neighbours rushed out of the room when they entered to rescue them due to offensive odor.