Thunder kills 2, injures 2 in Abeokuta

Posted by admin Headlines, Ogun, State News Thursday, October 6th, 2011

It was a tragic end for a bricklayer and the son of a m obile policeman in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital as they were struck dead by thunder last Saturday during downpour.
Two others, a 16-year-old boy and the mobile policeman were seriously injured and are currently receiving both treatment.

The deceased bricklayer, Azeez Salami was engaged in bricklaying works at Surulere Oke-Odo while the son of the policeman, whose identity was not immediately known, was asleep when thunder struck him. Those injured included the policeman who owns the two bed-room flat and a younger brother of the deceased bricklayer, identified as Ahmed. The deceased and the injured were said to be inside the building when the incident happened. Narrating what he described as a sad experience, an eyewitness, Mr. Adeyanju Mufutau said the unfortunate incident occurred within just a minute “and the once lively Azeez and the policeman’s son became lifeless.”

His words: “Unless it happens in your presence, you may not believe the story, but it is real. It happened in my presence and it was like a drama that I use to watch on television. It occurred within just a twinkle of an eye and the two laid dead on the floor.”
According to him, the deceased bricklayer accompanied by his younger brother whose age was put at 9 were working in one of the rooms while the landlord and his son (who was sleeping) were in another room when the thunder struck.

“It was raining and suddenly the building in which they were working went up in flames after a deafening thunderstorm hit the building. The thunder storm hit the entire area, but we were surprised that MOPOL’s building which was still under construction went up in flame.” Chairman of the area, (Surulere Oke-Odo) Landlords Association, Mr. Monsuru Adeleye who corroborated Mufutau’s narration said: “We were ignorant of the spiritual implication of the death of members of our community until we were told by elders that the fire was not ordinary.”

“According to elders, nobody, no matter his or her religion can bury the bricklayer and the landlord’s son except traditional worshippers, particularly the Sango devotees carry out sacrifice. We were later directed to some traditional worshippers at Fagbenro village, who ironically gave us a list of materials worth about N200,000.00 to procure before our dear ones could be buried.”
“Since we had no option, we rallied round to get some money and the traditional worshippers began the funeral rites of the bricklayer and the landlord’s son. I have been hearing about this unfortunate incident, but I have never witnessed it until this one in our area. It was a terrible experience and I pray that it does not happen again here.”

Although the matter had been reported at the Lafenwa Police Divisional Headquarters, the authorities there said the matter was beyond them. A police officer who spoke with Daily Sun on condition of anonymity yesterday confirmed the incident, but was quick to add: ‘’We sympathise with the families of the deceased, but we are less concerned about the tragic event, because there is nothing criminal about it.”

-Sun

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