Residents of Ajilekege Street, Pipeline bus stop, Idimu, Lagos State, on Friday were thrown into confusion after a 55-year-old woman, Amoke Adeko, jumped into a well in front of her residence.
It was learnt that the mother of five children had been traumatised after her husband died eight months ago.
Officials of Lagos State Fire Service, led by Firefighter Tosin Ologun, responded to a distress call from a resident of the area and the woman was recovered dead at about 11pm.
Her grandson was said to be marking his birthday in the Igando area on the fateful day.
A resident told PUNCH Metro that Adeko’s daughter, Amirat, the mother of the birthday boy, had brought a package of food prepared during the ceremony for her mother. It was said that Amirat, however, refused to give the woman the package in person, but sent someone else to take the food to her.
Adeko took the action as being shunned by her daughter and decided to end her life.
The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said:
“The woman had not been herself since her husband died. Amirat brought the food for her that afternoon, but she avoided her and sent it through someone elese. I don’t know why she did that, but the mother felt embarrassed because she saw her daughter from afar. It was around 5pm. About two hours later, she jumped into the well.”
Punch reports that a neighbour, who heard a sudden thud, rushed to the well and saw Adeko’s slippers beside it. He was said to have raised the alarm after he went to her room and looked round the compound but did not find her.
Sympathisers were trooping into the premises while burial rites for the deceased were ongoing when PUNCH Metro visited the neighbourhood on Saturday.
Adeko’s first son, Ahmed, said he was not aware that Amirat shunned their mother, adding that she usually visited him and his siblings. He said:
“She used to come to my place; spend some weeks and visit my sister too. This is her husband’s house and we can’t say she should leave. Before the incident happened, she had been with my sister for some weeks. We took her to her church and after some prayers, we decided that she should go back home. That we don’t come here always does not mean we abandoned her. My dad died eight months ago; we did not abandon her.
I don’t know what led to the incident but she was not traumatised. That day, my sister was marking her son’s birthday and I sent her to bring food for mum. She brought the food around 2pm. It was around 5.30pm that a resident called to inform me about the incident. She (Amirat) is not around now but she did not tell me that she gave the food to somebody else to deliver to her. What she told me was that she met her upstairs.”
A friend of the deceased, Grace Agboyin, while lamenting her death, said she was the one that used to look after her. Agboyin, who spoke in Yoruba, said:
“We were very close. Since the trauma became serious, I always went to her shop to chat with her. I ensured that she ate and used her drugs regularly. She had grown lean since her husband died because his death really touched her. She used to visit her children.
I was in my shop when I heard people shouting that Iya Ahmed (Adeko) had jumped into the well. I was very surprised.”
In a related development, a 60-year-old man, Adeoye Lasisi, said to be having challenges with his sight, was recovered dead on Friday from a well in his compound on Ayayo Road, Imota, in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.
A resident of the area, Sikiru Atolagbe, who spoke with Punch on the telephone, said the man’s wife had called him to have his bath in the morning of the fateful day, when she found his effects by the side of the well.
He said:
“According to his wife, the man had an eye defect. He woke up at 4am on Friday and asked her to heat water for him to bath, that he wanted to go to hospital. She later called him that the water was in the bathroom, but did not see him. It was while she was searching around the compound that she saw a touch and his slippers beside the well.”
The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, confirmed the two incidents and urged the public to ensure that their wells were covered and locked whenever they were not in use.
He said:
“An elderly woman deliberately jumped into a well of about 130 feet in the Idimu area. A partially blinded man was also recovered dead from the well in his house in Imota by a firefighter, Adejo Taiwo. People should ensure that their wells have good covers and ensure that they (wells) are properly locked whenever they are not in use.”
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