When Mr Sola Elegbede, an estate agent, woke up on Tuesday, he never imagined that he would lose his three-year-old grand-daughter, Ikeoluwa Abikejesu Olaniyi before night fall.
The day started like any other, but before nightfall, Elegbede’s household at 12/14, Oludegun Street Ire-Akari Estate, Isolo, a Lagos surburb, was in confusion. When The Nation visited yesterday, the family was mourning.
Family members, sympathisers and neighbours were still in shock over the death of Ikeoluwa who was smashed by their neighbour’s car.
Elegbede cut a pitiable look as he was inundated with calls of sympathy. Eventually, he settled down to narrate what led to Ikeoluwa’s death.
Elegbede said the girl lived with him and his wife from Monday to Friday as her parents work late because of the nature of their job.
“Ikeoluwa is my daughter’s child. My daughter stays in Ajao Estate;
“She is an accountant and her husband is a banker. They work very late every day and come back around 9pm. Ikeoluwa attended Jack & Jill Nursery/Primary School, Ire-Akari. I would go and pick Ikeoluwa and her younger sister on Monday and take them back on Saturday to their parents.”
At about 3pm that day, Elegbede sighted the girl close to the entrance of his flat and beckoned on her to come inside. “She hardly ate, but that day, she requested fried egg. But she left the food and went to sit by the entrance,” he said.
Elegbede got a call from a friend about a property and headed outside to attend to the business.
“Ikeoluwa followed me outside, as she was fond of going out with me. She saw her mates playing in the compound with bicycle and joined them; so I left,” he said, adding: “I went to the next house to honour the call. We had not started the discussion when someone called me that someone had hit my little daughter with a car.
“I thought she went to the road to play not knowing that it was inside the compound. I never knew that it was a lady that drove the car until we got to the police station. By the time I saw my wife with my late grand-daughter, blood was gushing out of one side of her head.
“I learnt a neighbour’s daughter had a misunderstanding with a boy, Chiboy, who was bent on making her his girlfriend, but she refused. I met them when they were quarrelling outside as I was coming back into the house. I was told the brother of my neighbour’s daughter fought Chiboy somewhere along the road.
“I learnt that Chiboy and his sister arranged with a policeman to arrest my neighbour’s son; and that the sister who was ready for a showdown with his brother’s “girlfriend” drove home from Ire Akari Road in high speed. That was where my late grand-daughter who was playing with her peers got crushed and died on the spot.”
Elegbede alleged that the motorist and her brother alighted from the car and fled. “But a riot policeman helped us to arrest the girl and her brother. We want the police to investigate the case for justice to be done”, he said.
A tear-soaked Elegbede’s youngest daughter, Adenike, said: “I left the house very early while she was still asleep only to return home after the day’s work to learn about her death. Ikeoluwa was such a fun loving girl. She was loved by the family and neighbours. She was a smart and intelligent child; I will miss her presence and our conversation. She once said she wanted to become a lawyer in future.”
Plans were being made by the family to bury Ikeoluwa yesterday at the Atan Cemetery, Yaba, Lagos Main-land.
The Divisional Police Officer of Okota Police Station, Patricia Idahosa-Amadin, confirmed the incident but referred The Nation to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ngozi Braide.
All efforts to get Braide failed. She said she was in a meeting and did not respond to the reporter’s SMS.
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