The recent death of Lekan Benson Adelaja and others in boats mishap in a Lagos community, just seven days after his wedding, has generated many controversies between his family and his wife’s. Adewale Ajayi reports.
When the family of Benson Adelaja gathered on August 1 to consummate the marriage of their son, Lekan to Sunbo in Ikenne, Ogun State, they never knew that the joy of their son getting married would be short-lived .
The family never had any inkling that the husband would die a week after his wedding, although there was a spiritual warning handed over to Lekan’s mother that his son should not travel out of his town Sagamu, Ogun State, some days after his wedding, a warning which his mother was said to have repeated to him.
On August 7, a Friday , Lekan was said to have left Sagamu to attend a party organised by his boss somewhere in Ajah , Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.
He was said to have travelled in company of his wife, younger sister, two of his friends , and his boss’s wife, who was said to have been picked up in Ikorodu for the trip. They drove to Baiyeku, in Ikorodu Local Government Area, and decided to make the rest of the trip by canoe , which transports people from that area to Ajah and Langbasa.
Lekan parked his car, a metallic colour Honda Accord with registration number KC 906 KJA by the shore of the river, and off they went. Less than 10 minutes after, the canoe left the shore and, still within the vicinity of the shore, capsized , it ran into strong ocean waves , which damaged the steering of the boat engine. The canoe capsized, , throwing its about 26 passengers overboard.
The sailor of another canoe, which had six passengers had, on the scene of the accident, attempted to rescue the passengers of the capsized canoe. But that also capsized, and the passengers in the two canoes were discharged into the lagoon.
With the assistance of fishermen, divers and marine policemen that came on board, some passengers were rescued, among whom was Lekan. He, however, took a plunge into the lagoon when his wife, Sunbo, was not found. Eventually, his wife was rescued, and a search for him and others continued.
On that day, five people were said to have been rescued alive, out of whom two dropped dead before medical aid could reach them, while five corpses were also said to have been brought out of the lagoon, including that of a woman with a baby strapped to her back. The baby was still alive. Of the three rescued, one survivor was said to have swam to the shore.
The rescue operation was put on hold till the next day , which was a Saturday, exactly a week after Lekan consummated his marriage to Sunbo.
The salvage operation was put on hold because it was assumed that the victims would have died, as they had not been found three hours after the incident, and that their corpses would be found floating on the river by the next day.
On Saturday, the environment became tense; the entire community was in a mournful mood, as friends and relatives of those who came in search of their loved ones bewailed their loss.
Friends of Lekan from Ijagba, in Sagamu, Ogun State, besieged the town, demanding for explanations on why such a thing should happen to their pal, and blaming the boat operators for failing to provide safety measures like life jackets for their passengers .
They wondered why such a thing should happen to him barely a week after his marriage. While some wailed to register their displeasure, others threatened to set ablaze, the houses in the community. Though they were prevented from doing that, the canoe operators’ office was not spared. It was vandalised, and the locally-made life jackets hung on the wall were destroyed and thrown into the lagoon.
Those whose relatives were yet to be found were seen moving up and down the shore of the lagoon with drawn faces, while others glued their eyes to the lagoon, perhaps probing it for swallowing their loved ones.
On the third day of the incident, a Sunday, six swollen corpses were found. Among them was Lekan’s, his friend’s and his sister-in-law’s. The atmosphere became charged, as members of his family became enraged, blaming his wife for contributing to his death, arguing that if he had not taken the risk of plunging into the lagoon , in search of the wife, he would probably have been alive today.
The two families that had, a week earlier, exchanged pleasantries when giving out their children in marriage , suddenly became enemies , and Lekan’s friends threatened to beat them up. It took the intervention of members of Baiyeku community and the policemen drafted to the town to restore order.
In line with the Yoruba tradition , to the effect that anyone who dies in a river , lagoon , sea or brook should be buried at its bank , it was unanimously agreed that the corpses be buried at the bank of the lagoon .
In other to scare the women and other lily-livered men away from the burial site, the Oro (traditional ritual which women were forbidden to watch) was invoked, while the corpses were ferried to the portion earmarked for their burial with a boat, and the corpses floated on the lagoon, tied to the canoe.
It was an emotion-laden event, as relatives of the deceased wept , as the corpses were being pulled from the lagoon into their grave.
Commenting on the incident, Mr Kunle Jegede, who claimed to have been traveling to Ajah on boat en route Baiyeku in the last seven years, said the boat operators should be blamed for the incident, because many of them usually overloaded their boats and failed to provide life jackets for their passengers.
He explained that government should also share part of the blame , explaining that despite the approval given to the boat operators by the government, they were not being properly monitored. He explained further that the boat in question had once been involved in an accident at Majidun, near Ikorodu town, and that this was why it was barred from loading in the area, and was eventually taken to Baiyeku .
Another boat operator in Baiyeku, Mr. Segun Omogunle, said officials of the Lagos State Water Traffic Management Authority (LASTWA) had, on many occasions, arrested the boat operators, and that in the last one year, they have been arrested more than 20 times for failing to comply with laid-down regulations for operation.
He explained that on one occasion, the marine police impounded three of the boats because they lacked the necessary facilities, and they had to bribe the police with N60,000 before the boats were released .
Speaking on the development, the head of the community, Chief Kehinde Ogunyera, said such a sad incident had never occurred in the past 70 years of his existence. He explained that the council of chiefs in the community usually took time off to monitor the activities of the boat operators, and that they usually complied with the conditions and rules given to them.
He said they never overloaded their boats, as claimed by some people, and that the life jackets they used were the brand recommended for them, and were not inferior as claimed .
Chief Ogunyera stated that, many times , the passengers refused to wear life jacket given to them , giving the excuse that they might contact disease by wearing it , because people afflicted with a disease might have worn it before.
A spiritual dimension was, however, introduced by some people, who blamed the community for failing to make sacrifices to the water goddess, arguing that the river goddess was probably angry. Some blamed Lekan for refusing to abide by the spiritual instruction given to him through his mother, which forbade him from going out of his town, Sagamu, for some days.
Buttressing that fact, Lekan’s boss, Chief Muyideen Oladegun, said although Lekan had been travelling on that lagoon for over seven years, and that he and Lekan used that route many times, he had warned him against attending the ill-fated party, having earlier on reminded him of the spiritual message which forbade him from going out of his town for some days after his wedding.
While those who lost their loved ones are bemoaning their ill-fortune, it is necessary for the state government, which has made known its intention to popularize water transportation, to make sure that most of the private boat operators who are given approval are closely monitored, to prevent tragedies such as the one that claimed passengers.
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