Jethro Ibileke/Benin
As floods continue to ravage parts of the country with attendant death tolls, a six-year-old primary school boy identified simply as Segun, was on Monday evening washed away by flood water in Benin, Edo state capital.
The incident occurred around the Textile Mill junction, along the Benin-Lagos road, when the mother of the boy who was being taken home from school by his mother, fell into the deep gutter between the service lane and the major lanes during the heavy downpour.
According to a Benin-based television station report monitored by our correspondent, the mother of the victim identified as Latifa, who wept bitterly, said: “I held him (victim) by the hand but he moved back and fell.”
She said as she attempted to save the boy and the child strapped to her back, she almost fell into the gutter also, but was rescued by an Hausa man whom she did not know.
Failure of the search party to locate the victim’s body after several hours, led to a wild protest by youths of the area, who alleged that the drainages were not properly done.
The protesters also barricaded the busy expressway, thereby grounding commercial activities in the area.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Chidi Nwabuzor, could not be reached for comments.
But it was gathered that some security operatives were later deployed to the scene to restore calm.