Mum Calls for Probe After Daughter Dies Same Day Dad Forcefully Took Her Away

A grieving mum, Oyeniyi Adenike, has called for a probe into the death of her two-year-old daughter, Rachael, who reportedly drowned in a well same day her dad forcefully took custody of her.

According to Punch, the little girl was living with her mother in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where she was attending kindergarten. Her father, Gbenga, however took her to his Lagos residence on Jezza Street, in the Egbeda area on Monday. She was said to have been playing with other children in the neighbourhood when she fell and drowned in an 80-foot well in the house around 5pm that Monday.

Her mother, a civil servant, has now said the circumstances surrounding the death of her daughter makes it difficult for her to believe that the drowning was an accident. She said,

“I am a civil servant and I live in Abeokuta, while my husband stays in Lagos. But every weekend, I travel to Lagos to meet him. We have two children – Rachael and Emmanuel.

The only issue between us was that he wanted her to school in Lagos, but I refused because I thought she needed me around her for monitoring.

In September, 2015, I took her to a school where she started attending kindergarten. I was the one paying her school fees.

On Monday, April 18, 2016, around 9am, I was bathing Emmanuel when I suddenly heard footsteps. I peeped from the bathroom and I saw it was my husband. He had Rachael on his lap. I greeted him, but he didn’t answer. As I returned to continue bathing my second child, he said goodbye and left.”

She said she went downstairs and tried to catch up with him, but could not find him, adding that he drove off in his car.

Adenike told our correspondent that she immediately came to Lagos and visited the Social Welfare department of a police station in the Agege area to report the case but the police chased her out of the station. She then went to her her husband’s residence in Egbeda.

She continued,

“When my child saw me, she put on her shoes to follow me, but my husband started abusing me.

I was taking the child away, when he forcefully took the child back. My child started crying.  I called his relative and begged that they talk to him, but he refused and said the child must stay with him.”

She said she left the house around 3pm and that it was in the evening that her father received a call informing him that the child was dead.

“They said she drowned in a well, how could a two-year-old climb a well? My child was crying that she wanted to follow me, but he refused. Now she is dead,” she said.

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She claimed the Gowon Estate Police Divisional Officer called the family into his office and asked that the child be buried and the matter settled without any investigation into the death.

When contacted, her husband declined comment on the matter, saying he was not in the mood.

Some residents and Rachael’s aunt, Romoke however confirmed Rachael was playing with other children in the neighbourhood when she fell into the well.

Her aunt, Romoke, said, “We were together, but she went to play with other children. She was jumping on the cover of the well and before I knew what was happening, I didn’t see her again.”

The Director of the state fire service, Rasak Fadipe, said, “The girl climbed the well and fell into it. She was in a state of coma when we brought her out.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, the case is being investigated.