A three-year-old boy, Chibuike Uba, has died after falling into an open soakaway in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State.
The tragic incident happened on Wednesday at Babarinsa, when Chibuike followed his mother’s aunt outside while she made a phone call.
The boy’s mother, Utoro, had come from Epe to visit her aunt and was packing her belongings to return home when the incident occurred.
“I thought my son was still with my aunt. When she returned and I asked for him, she said he had already come back inside. But I couldn’t find him anywhere,” Utoro said in a voice note shared on Thursday.
A frantic search began, and then Utoro noticed her son’s slippers near a soakaway in the next compound, which had no fence separating it.
“I shouted, ‘My baby is inside the soakaway!’ We pulled him out and rushed him to a hospital,” she said.
Chibuike was first taken to a nearby clinic in the Sapati area and then referred to the General Hospital in Akodo. Doctors placed him on oxygen, but he was later confirmed dead.
The grieving mother blamed the landlord of the property next door, saying her aunt had warned him many times to close the open soakaway.
“She kept telling him to fix it, but he kept making promises. Even the plank she used to cover it was damaged by the rain. As I speak to you, the soakaway is still open,” Utoro said.
Efforts to reach the landlord for comment were unsuccessful, as he reportedly does not live in the community.
Harmony Tachie, a human rights advocate and founder of the Harmony Advocacy Network, confirmed that they are working to ensure the case is reported to the police.
“We are doing everything possible to help the family get justice,” Tachie said.