Man Loses 3 Kids In Lagos Boat Mishap

The man who lost three of his children in a boat mishap at Imude in Otto Awori Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, Mr. Najim Oseni has bemoaned his fate.

“I invested heavily on the children with a view that they would become great in life,” Oseni cried.

The grieving father lost two boys, Sule Oseni, 16, Wasiu Oseni, 14 and 13-year old girl, Risikatu Oseni to the tragedy which claimed 10 lives.

“Out of my six children, I have lost three. All my investment in them so that they can become respected members of the society has been shattered by the captain of the speed boat.

“I know how much I spend daily on my children, just recently I paid over N120,000 for the school fees of the three missing children.

“Let someone tell me I am dreaming. This is terrible, losing three children at a time,” he lamented.

The bodies of his three dead children have been retrieved and will be buried today.

He recounted his last moment with his two sons and a daughter.

“They were on their way back to Imude Community. They went to celebrate Eid-El-Kabir festival with my relatives in our village in Idoluwo when the waves generated by a fast moving speedboat upturned their canoe,” he explained.

Residents of Imude Community have blamed Sunday’s boat mishap which caused the death of 10 members of the community on Julius Berger speed boat that created the wave that overturned the boat.

The Baale of Imude, Chief Ajayi Ashade was very bitter about the incident and blamed it on the speed boat.

“The current was so much that it led to the boat capsizing. One would have expected that the captain of the speed boat would slow down when he sighted the canoe. But he did not. If he had slowed down, the incident would have been averted.

“It takes 15 minutes for a canoe to cross from Ido-Oluwo to Imude. Why didn’t the captain of the speed boat wait for the canoe to pass or switch off his engine? This is because with such current, the boat had enough speed to pass the canoe.

“It would not have taken them up to 30 seconds to allow those in the canoe to pass. We will begin to lecture our people on the advantages of life jacket. Enough of these tragedies.

“Government should warn the company before we become violent; ten of our people have died now. If this senseless killing of our people continues we may resort to violent means,” he added.

According to him, immediately the boat capsized, a rescue team sprang into action and five of the victims’ bodies were retrieved from the lagoon.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga