The victim, who was married with children, was said to be returning home when there was a downpour which flooded the road. As the victim attempted to jump over a gutter, one of his legs was said to have been trapped.Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that efforts to save him were abortive, adding that the 38-year-old did not struggle with the surge.
His remains were said to have been recovered in a swamp on Odediran Street on Sunday morning.A bundle of naira notes and a teller were reportedly found on him. A trader, Jane Nwosu, 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.”
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.He said after Talabi did not return home on Friday evening, they became apprehensive, adding that they reported a case of missing person to the police.
“Yinka (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.“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.” During a visit to the community 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,” he added.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, confirmed the incident.
He said, “The man got drowned on Sunday. He had been sick for some time and he was in his house when one of his work mates called him that their salary had been paid he should come and collect his share.He was returning from there when he fell into a gutter and got drowned. The police have released the corpse to them.”