One Yinka Talabi, an Epe Lagos State indigene, has drowned after he slipped into a gutter on Ikotun road, Ikotun area of the state.
PUNCH reports that the graduate of Business Administration, Ire Polytechnic, Osun State, had on Friday afternoon gone to a bank to make withdrawals and on his way home, there was a downpour which flooded the road.
The 38-year-old victim attempted to jump over a gutter when one of his legs got trapped.
Based on eyewitness accounts, efforts to save him were abortive.
It was learnt that the deceased, who was married with children, did not struggle with the surge.
His remains were said to have been recovered in a swamp on Odediran Street on Sunday morning and a bundle of naira notes and a teller were reportedly found on him.
A trader, Nwosu Jane, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, said it happened around 1pm.
She said, “The man had just come out of the bank and he was about to cross the gutter when his feet slipped. People tried to rescue him but his head was stuck in the drainage.
“He appeared weak and did not struggle to save himself. The flood swept him through the drainage and everybody was helpless,” Jane noted.
A friend of the victim, who identified himself as Korede, said Talabi had been sick and had been admitted to a private hospital before he was discharged on Friday.
A relative, Ibikunle Oguntamu, said the family did not know he had been swept away by flood.
Oguntamu said after Talabi did not return home on Friday evening, they became worried; afterwards, they reported a case of missing person to the police.
“Talabi did not drink or womanise and he never kept late at night. When we did not see him and his phone was not reachable, we reported at the Ikotun Police Division, but we later learnt he was swept away by water and we searched everywhere without any success.
“On Sunday morning, his corpse floated in a swamp behind Muslim College, Ikotun,” the deceased’s relative added.
However, on Tuesday, the family lamented that the corpse had yet to be released to them for burial.
One of the relatives of the deceased, Mayowa Adebola, appealed to the police not to aggravate the sorrow of the family by delaying the release of the corpse.
“We plan to bury him today (Wednesday), and the police are holding back the clearance form, saying the Divisional Police Officer who is meant to sign the form is not around and our people have been waiting at the mortuary since morning.
“We beg them not to worsen our sorrow,” Adebola added.
Comments