We opted to bury our 8 children because officials demanded N.8m for autopsy – Bereaved parents

Jubrilia, whose younger brother also lost two daughters, Aisha, 3, and Farida, 9, in the incident said: “They said the autopsy will cost N100,000 for each child. That is N800,000 for the children.

“Unfortunately, I can’t spend N800,000 to investigate the death of our children. So, we requested for their corpses, which we took home and buried after collecting document from the police.”

Jubrilia said: “I don’t want any case because as Muslims, it is forbidden to spend money investigating someone that is dead. We took their corpses to General Hospital, Badagry on Saturday, after police gave us report. At the General Hospital, they said they would transfer their corpses to Ikeja to do autopsy to find out what killed the children. They said the autopsy will cost N100,000 for each child. That is N800,000 for the eight children.”

Recounting the death of the children, Jubrilia said: “I can’t confirm if the children actually died inside the vehicle from suffocation or they were killed and placed inside the vehicle.

“I was called around 4:30p.m. by Mummy Zainab, the woman who lost three children in the incident that I should come and see my children. Before I got there, they have brought out the corpses from the vehicle. They were all lying down on the ground. I saw seven of the children, including my son’s lying on the ground, my heart sanked. I almost collapsed. The eighth child is one of the granddaughters of Saliat Kazeem, who died on the way to the hospital.

“I called the community chairman. They said they want to take them to hospital. When I saw them, I knew they were dead. So, we went to the police station to make statement.”

I put everything to God—Woman who lost 3 children

When Vanguard visited the house, sympathisers filled the Isaka’s compound commiserating with the parents for their loss.

Narrating how the remains of the children were recovered, Hafsatu Isaka said: “I don’t know what happened, my neighbour was looking for her children who had gone to play with my kids. My eldest daughter called me saying my neighbour was searching for her children. It was while we were searching for the children that Saliat Kazeem from the other compound rushed in, saying I should come and see the children inside the vehicle.

“As I entered her compound, I noticed the vehicle had tinted glass, so, you have to look closely to see inside the vehicle. Her granddaughter was sitting inside the vehicle, while they laid one upon another, like they were placed there. My daughter Zainab was sitting with her head on her laps, while the other children laid one upon another. Immediately I saw them, I screamed lala hilala.

“I ran out of the compound, I raised the alarm. I called out to other neighbours, I sent my daughter to go call my husband who was at the mosque. There was a young man that lives opposite Saliat Kazeem house where it happened, he was the one that rushed inside the house and brought out the car key and then we brought the children out of the vehicle. When my husband came, he started vomiting blood.

“My children don’t go to that compound to play. Their feet have never entered into that compound to play. The government should intervene. Will eight children’s death not be investigated? The police should investigate to find out what killed eight children. I want justice for the children and leave everything to God.”

Like his wife, Mr. Alidu Issaka, explained: “I wasn’t around when the incident happened, I was at Baba Bintu, close to Serki side. I stayed there for a while before entering the mosque to pray that was where I was when my daughter came to call me that something terrible had happened that her siblings, my children were dead.

“My children that died inside the vehicle are Zainab, 11; Abdulwahab, 5, and Yakubua, 3.

“I was surprised because they just returned from Ile-kewu, where they went to learn Arabic studies. I took bike straight to the house. People had gathered. When I got to the house where the incident happened, they had already brought the children out of the vehicle. They were brought out before police’s arrival.

“I really don’t know what to say, but I suspect that the children were poisoned because at 1:30p.m., when I left the house, my children were still in the Arabic class at Ile-kewu. While passing through their school, all the children were inside learning. I thought I would see them on the way back so I would buy biscuit for the small one and tell them that their mother had prepared lunch for them, little did I know I would never see them alive again.

“Before the incident that happened on Saturday, my children have never gone to that compound to play. My children don’t enter there. They play within my compound and Mr. Ibrahim’s compound. That place is bushy, the place is always locked, and children don’t go in there because they don’t have playmates there.”

Meanwhile, residents of the community are calling on the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, to keep his promise made on December 6, 2021, for a thorough and speedy investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the children, as they would not want the case swept under the carpet.