A 13-year old boy, Kabiru Sanni has drowned in an abandoned soak away pit at 17, Orisanu Street, Ijegun in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria.
It was learnt that Kabiru drowned in the pit covered by flood as the victim attempted to pass through it.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the landlord of the house, the late Ogunsake Saba attempted to construct the soak away but could not complete it before he died a few years ago.
The house was inherited by the late Ogunsake’s children. But they also did not complete the soak-away.
According to the tenants, they paid advance rent to enable the landlord’s children complete the soak-away but they did not do it or refund their money.
Efforts by the tenants to compel them to complete the project did not yield any result until the incident occurred.
Following the death of Kabiru Sanni, the owners of the storey building were arrested by the police at Isheri Oshun for allegedly causing the death of the boy.
Those arrested were Idowu Saba and Kehinde Saba while other members of the family have gone into hiding to escape arrest.
When P.M.NEWS visited Isheri Oshun Police Station, the reporter was referred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Yaba, Lagos where further investigation has commenced on the matter after the suspects were transferred there.
At the time of filing this report, the suspects were still in SCID custody.
Photo:previous soakaway pit victims from enugu
Enugu Incident in June:
On Friday 22 May, the staff of One With God Sewage Services in Enugu had finished evacuating the septic tank at 15 Umuaniabor Street Awkunanaw, Garki, Enugu and were about to go when a woman in the house asked them whether they had done a thorough job. Confident that his team had done a marvelous job, Sunday Chukwu, one of the staff of the sewage company who cleared the faeces, opened the lid of the pit. But the pungent fumes emanating from the pit overpowered him. He fell into the pit, unconscious.
The Killer Soak-away pit
When Chukwu did not come up, Chibuike Okoye, a Nigerian Law School student and tenant in the said house who invited the sewage company, went into the tank to rescue him. But he, too, fell unconscious. This prompted a third person to attempt a rescue. This ended in disaster as the man also succumbed to the fumes and passed out. When tenants of the house saw that the three men in the pit were lying motionless in the tank, they fled from the building, screaming and crying.
At this juncture, personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, led by Mr Paul Inaya, arrived the scene but discovered that they were too late to save the three men. Officials of the Enugu South Local Government Health Department later came to dilute the strong gas in the tank with chemicals and water before people could go down to bring out the corpses. But before this was done, a live cock was dropped inside the tank and it survived. The dried up corpses of the three men were later released to the Police coroner for autopsy.
The Coordinator of the Health Department, Mr. Christian Egbo said the tragedy occurred because the septic tank was not allowed to cool for at least two hours before the men went in. He added that human feaces has chemicals that can kill. Egbo advised sewage service providers to always study the environment of houses/yards they intend working on for air escape routes before opening such tanks. He also urged them use ample chemicals to neutralise the poisonous gas before going inside septic tanks..
The landlord of the building, Mr. Bartholomew Mbaorji was said to have travelled. But his wife was later detained and released by the Police in Awkunanaw. She absolved herself of any blame, saying that she engaged the services of a registered sewage company which ought to know its job...
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