Parents of children who died in abandoned vehicle open up

Two parents whose children were among those that suffocated inside an abandoned vehicle in Magbon area of Badagry have opened up on the sad incident, accepting their fate.

Ibrahim Jubril and Isiaka Alidu on Monday said they had submitted to the will of Allah.

It would be recalled that Magbon was thrown into confusion following the discovery of the lifeless bodies of eight children – aged between four and nine — inside a parked Honda Pilot with registration number AAA157BD.

They were discovered when one Saliat Kazeem, who wanted to feed her granddaughter raised the alarm that the children were trapped inside the vehicle.

Ibrahim Jubril, one of the bereaved fathers, said he lost four children in the incident.

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“My four children, Abdul-Tayab, Mamood, (two boys); Aisat and Farida (girls) lost their lives inside the abandoned vehicle. I was inside this central mosque when people came to call me to come and see what happened to my children.

“Before I got to the scene, they had brought them out of the car. Nobody knows how they got inside the motor and locked themselves inside.

“As a Muslim, everything that happens in life comes from Allah, we believe that it is Allah that gives and take back at any time in life. My wife has also submitted to the will of Allah.

“We have buried our children according to Muslim rites and we are here at the mosque praying to Allah to forgive them their sins,” he said.

Another bereaved father, Isiaka Abdul-Wahab, said he lost three children in the incident.

“My two boys, Abdul-Wahab and Yakubu, then a girl, Zainab, just returned from Quranic School; after eating they started playing with their friends. I went to the mosque to pray for about an hour and from there I went to Quranic School to see a friend.

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“Suddenly, my wife sent for me, when I got there, I saw the lifeless bodies of my children. We have submitted to the will of Allah because he is the one that gives and takes,” he said.

In his reaction, Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan, a Moslem leader in the area, urged the government to get to the root of the matter.

“This thing that happened to our children can happen to anybody. The findings will calm our youths down, so the government should find out the facts of the incident,” he said.

The house where the incident occurred remained locked, preventing people from gaining access.