Parents bury children found dead in vehicle, amidst tears

The parents of the eight children that were found dead in a Lexus SUV at Adelayo Street, Jah-Micheal Agunaje area of Badagry, have buried them amidst tears.

The eight children were found dead in a vehicle parked in front of the owner’s compound on Saturday evening.

The children were buried according to Islamic rites on Sunday morning, without an autopsy conducted on them.

Mark Akande, the founder of Society for Youth Advancement and Creativity Initiative (SHACo), who visited the scene on Sunday, gathered that the incident happened around 5p.m. on Saturday and the children were buried after attempts to conduct autopsy on them failed.

The parents reportedly took the children to the General Hospital at Badagry, and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), where they were told to bring N100, 000 each for the hospital to conduct autopsy on the children.

“The parents decided not to take them for autopsy at LUTH. They said it is against Islamic laws to spend money on the dead,” Mr Akande said.

The police spokesperson, Adekunle Ajisebutu, earlier confirmed that the children reportedly entered a parked vehicle while playing around and died from suffocation.

One of the elders in the neighbourhood, who declined giving his name, said the children were supposed to be at Islamic lessons at the time of the incident, and no one suspected that they had entered a parked vehicle.

Afsat Isiaka, a mother who lost three children to the incident, was found in a mourning state amidst sympathisers in her compound, which was close to where the incident happened.

“I know no wetin happen, my second sef go find the children, the woman sef stay inside compound and call me say make I come, na so I find the children inside car, all of children don die, ” she said in pidgin English.

She said the children were foaming in the mouth by the time they were brought down from the vehicle.

Her children, Abdulwahab Isiaka, Yakub Isiaka, and Zainab Isiaka were 11, 5 and 3 years old respectively.

Ibrahim Jubril, a father to two of the deceased children, was also found surrounded by sympathisers in his compound.

“They said they wan carry them to hospital and me I be Muslim. We carried then to General Hospital, that same yesterday, police gave us paper, they say they want to transfer us to Ikeja, LUTH. They said each person is N100, 000 to check, that is N800, 000 for eight of them,” he said.

He said he has written a statement at the police station with respect to the incident.

Mr Jubril’s immediate brother also lost two children to the incident, while one of the eight children is the grandson of the owner of the vehicle, PREMIUM TIMES gathered.

The woman in whose car the children were found dead is currently in custody of the Area K Police Command in Badagry, Lagos.

Mr Ajisebutu, the police spokesperson, said the police is investigating the matter and would carry the public along on the report.