Tears in Lokoja as raging Meme River swallows two-year-old boy

By Richard Elesho

Tears flowed freely in Lokoja, Kogi State capital, on Monday,  as a two-year-old boy, Godwin Kumfa, was swept away by the furious waters of Meme River, leaving a trail of heartbreak in his family and across the community.

The heartbreaking incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. in Phase II area of the city, after heavy rains had swollen the riverbanks.

Little Godwin, left playing by the riverside near his home while his mother bailed sand nearby, vanished into the surging current without a sound.

By the time she turned around, her only son was gone.

His father, Nantip Kumfa, a security man, received a distress call from a neighbour and rushed home, only to find a frantic search underway along the riverbank.

Grief etched deeply into his voice, Kumfa said, “Later, we found one of his shoes near Arigbede, about 15km downstream. I’m lost. Godwin is my only son.”

Family friend Seun Babalola recalled another chilling incident. “Two years ago, a seven-year-old named Goodluck Friday also drowned here. It’s painful. We don’t know if it’s natural or something else. Only God knows.”

Godwin’s mother, Mrs Lovina Kumfa, was inconsolable, sobbing uncontrollably and begging for divine intervention. “I left him just for a while. When I came back, he was gone. Please God, help me find my child,” she wept.

As community members comb the riverbanks and continue their search, an air of sorrow and fear hangs over the neighbourhood.

With daily rains pounding Lokoja and the Meme River swelling by the hour, residents are left asking: how many more will be lost before action is taken?

The once-quiet tributary of the Niger has become a haunting reminder of lives washed away.