How Mother of Two Was Severely Injured in One of Airtel’s Offices and Allegedly Lost Her Life | Family Demand N500M Compensation

Airtel Nigeria, one of Nigeria’s mobile network providers, has been accused of covering up the death of a mother who was severely injured and allegedely neglected by their staff at their office located at 11, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos State.

According to Deereporters, on Thursday the 29th of December, 2016, Late Chika Alex-Etuk went to obtain and register a new Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) for her phone. She was in the company of her two children and a friend visiting from South Africa. They had plans to go shopping later.

It was said that Chika was in Airtel’s premise at 1 p.m where she was asked to fill out a form and then ushered by one of the Airtel staff to take a photograph at a designated spot, a requirement for the SIM registration.

Reports reveal that as she stepped into the area directed by the staff, the tiled floor underneath Chike caved in and she fell into a sinkhole. Her left leg was stuck up to her knee.

According to reports, the mother of two sustained multiple lacerations to her lower leg, cuts around her thighs and went into shock from the severe pain and loss of blood. Her children where traumatized by the incident andthis has now affected them mentally and physically.

Chika’s children were not shielded from the horrific scene. They watched as a chunk of their mother’s flesh laid on the ground while she yelled in pain, for hours. No child deserves to see their mother in such agony.

A source says her first son now aged 8, has developed breathing problem and is unable to sleep well, while the second son aged 6 is always in and out of hospital and unable to communicate or play with other children.

When the horrific accident occurred the Airtel staff ran out of the building according to on lookers, few minutes later they came back sporadically, they just stood there and watched while she laid in pain some even ran away without looking back.

It was revealed that the late Mrs Chika Alex Etuk was taken to a nearby hospital by her friend and other sympathisers. She was rejected by the hospital because they could not handle the severity of the bleeding and injuries.

She was immediately rushed to St. Claire’s Hospital in Surulere, Lagos.

She was later admitted to the Emergency Ward of National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi, Lagos state. After enduring a painful surgery at the Orthopaedic hospital, she died on the 30th of January, 2017.

It is alleged that Airtel Limited offered Three Million naira (£7000 pounds) to Late Chika’s family as compensation. Mrs Chika was the breadwinner of her family and Airtel has been made aware of this fact.