Ilorin Hot Car Deaths: I Went To Buy Noodles For Them, Mother Of 3 Suffocated Siblings Laments
Ilorin For Mrs. Silifat Shade Jimoh, an HND graduate of Business Administration from Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, last Sunday would remain a black day in her memory for the rest of her life.
Silifat is married to one Abdulkadir Jimoh who operates a barbing salon but allegedly decided to abdicate his fatherly responsibility to the wife who oftentimes was responsible for the care of their three children.
Before the tragedy of last Sunday, Silifat’s family, despite alleged maltreatment by her husband, had forced her to stay on with him because of her children.
As if the alleged irresponsibility of the husband was not enough, he married a second wife who he often stayed with.
KwaraReporters gathered that the second wife, who gave birth about three weeks ago, got Silifat’s husband to borrow his senior brother’s car to run around for the naming ceremony that took place penultimate Saturday.
Yet to return the car a week after the naming ceremony, Abdulkadir reportedly brought the car home and the car caught the fancy of the three children believing that it belonged to their father and they entered the car to play only to be suffocated as they mistakenly locked themselves inside in sunny, hot afternoon.
On the fateful day, Silifat, who lives in Zango area of Ilorin but operates a shop where she sells soft drinks and other daily items at Oke Andi, a distance from her residence, obviously didn’t have premonition of the calamity that would befall her.
Silifat reportedly left the three children to get noodles from her shop to cook for them after one of the children told her that she won’t take rice to school the following day Monday.
Before she returned home however, the worst had happened. Trapped inside te hot car, the children had died.
The husband immediately fled home, while their landlady issued them quit notice and Silifat taken by her friends to Taiwo Isale, where her family house is located, to recuperate there.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, who was moved by the tragedy, ordered investigation into the incident, according to Kwara State Police Commissioner, Mr Victor Olaiya, who visited the bereaved mother.
Speaking on the tragedy, 37-year-old Silifat said: “My children were Maryam, 10, Nudrah, 8, and Mohammed, 2, all deceased now.
“The incident happened on Sunday around 2pm shortly after I finished cooking rice for them.
“It was my second daughter, Nadrah, who said she would not take rice to school the next day (Monday) as she would prefer noodles.
“I had some money in the shop and N700 in my Opay account. I live in the Boluke area in Zango and operate a shop at Oke-Andi, Zango where I sell provisions and other items.
“It would only cost me N200 to go and come back home.
“So I told my children that if the money I had was not enough to buy what they wanted, I had people I could collect money from till I sell in shop on Monday and I left.
“This is not the first time I would leave them to go to buy something.
“Sometimes I would leave them and go and fetch water and they will be playing inside the house.
“At times, if I had a job from churches, mosques or from any celebrant to help make donuts or snacks, because I am also a caterer, I would go and deliver it to the customers and leave the children at home”.
Continuing, she said: “My husband married another wife who I didn’t get to know on time.
“I have faced a lot of issues in my marriage which is now 11 years old as there has never been peace.
“My husband has been dating the lady from Oke-Ode for quite some time and I was told to be patient and my family and his are aware of the development.
“Sometimes he would come home around 11pm and leave very early in the morning.
“My children were not at peace with him at home, it was from one trouble to another. Sometimes, if we had a quarrel, he would drive me out in the midnight.
“It happened that he impregnated the lady he was dating but the child died after birth.
“On the day of marriage, he introduced the wife to me. But penultimate Saturday, the lady put to bed again.
“A lady had given birth to a child for him before as I met him as a single father and he was not like this before I married him.
“He and the new wife had been dating since the time we married and I never enjoyed my marriage to him because of maltreatment.
“So after the second wife had her second child, my husband informed me and I went to greet her.
“But when I woke up on Sunday, I met the voice note of my husband that the second wife had relocated from her previous apartment in case I wanted to still come and greet her.
“They have been married not even up to a year and they had a societal wedding unlike mine which was only Nikkah.
“On Thursday, I went to greet her in the new location described by my husband.
“Then my husband suddenly changed his attitude towards me.
“If I slept in the bedroom, he would sleep in the parlour and if I slept in the parlour, he would go to the bedroom.
“But my family and friends advised me to be patient for the sake of the children whenever I complained.
“They didn’t tell me anything about the naming ceremony but people called me to ask why I was not present.
“It was the Saturday after they finished the naming that he brought the car owned by his elder brother home which they used to do all the running around during the event.
“Before we got married, his brother had been using the car and this is not his first time he would borrow it.
“If we were talking during the period or I had a premonition of what would happen, I would have told him to return the car to the owner who will need it to go to work on Monday.
“He didn’t return the car and didn’t park it at the venue of the event, why is it that he had to park it here where I am staying?
“Now the car was there since that Saturday till Sunday that the incident happened, more than a week after when the children requested for noodles to take to school the next day.
“So I went to the shop to get the noodles for them. Before I went, my last born, Mohammed, was crying but I said the sun was too much and I would not want to take him outside because of the heat. “I called Maryam who is the eldest to take care of his siblings.
Children Dead
“But when I came back, I noticed that the children had scattered the entire room and I met the door open.
“I also saw their shoes and envisaged they will not be out of the premises at most because they would put on their shoes if they were going outside the gate. I never thought of the vehicle even for a second.
“From my house to the shop is just N100 bike. I called out for them when I came and couldn’t find them.
“Initially I thought they were playing hide and seek with me. I checked everywhere but to no avail.
“My landlady had gone to work because she was on morning duty.
“The flat next to us was occupied by an aged couple and my children wouldn’t go inside their house except on a few occasions.
“When I couldn’t find them, I checked inside the well but nothing was there, I took Okada to the junction crying that I couldn’t find my children.
“When I came back, I went to knock at the door of the next flat to tell them that I couldn’t find my children, the woman’s husband was already asleep.
“She told me she heard their cries about 10 minutes earlier when she was asking Maryam why she was beating her siblings.
“Later something just told me to check inside the vehicle and I saw them inside.
“I managed to open one of the doors and met them just lying inside but the remaining three doors did not open.
"I was saying to them that why did they go inside the car which they didn’t used to do.
“But their posture and the way I saw them made me terrified. I called them but no answer and I started shouting for help.
“It was the woman’s husband that came to force the other doors open and dragged Mohammed out, his hand got injured in the process.
“My shout later attracted some boys and other people outside, some of whom jumped our fence and we started pouring water on them to revive them but to no avail.
“It was those people that rushed them to Olutayo Hospital. I didn’t see them after that”.
Relationship
“My husband and I were not in talking terms up till that Sunday morning; though he slept in the house that day, people will hardly know that we had issues because he used to take us to the shop in the morning and the children were even appreciating him.
“Even if he wanted to communicate with me, it was through the children.
“Earlier before that day, he sent Maryam to go and ask a nearby vulcaniser, Jamiu, how much it will cost to repair one of the tyres of the vehicle and they later came to fix it.
“Since the incident I have not set my eyes on my husband but I was told he came here to our family house.
“He has also called me twice since the incident to ask when I am coming home.
“The police came and I also narrated my story to them.
“They said the IGP was interested and he was the one who called the CP to inquire about what was going on before the latter sent officers here.
”But I have strengthened my faith in Almighty Allah coupled with the people that God has surrounded me with. That is what is keeping me going”.
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