In this interview, Mrs Olorunwa Sanni, the mother of Omobewaji Sanni, one of the WASSCE candidates of Seico Secondary School killed by a truck driver at Ijebu Ode, speaks on the excruciating pain of losing the 16-year old three months after child-birth
Tell us about yourself ma
I am Mrs Olorunwa Sanni, I am 51 years old. I am a native of Ijebu Ode and I am into cap designing.
Tell us what happened last week Friday ma
What happened was that my 16-year-old daughter, Omobewaji Sanni who was writing the ongoing West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination at Seico Secondary School, Ikangba, Ijebu Ode was knocked down by a truck driver. What we were told was that there were about eight of these students who were coming back home when this driver lost control and run into these children. My daughter and one other female students, Aliyah who was also killed actually ran away when they saw this truck coming, they reportedly ran into the compound of a church and hid behind the fence of the church but this truck driver still went after them, hit the fence of the church and killed these children.
So the Omobewaji and other female student died on the spot?
No, the other girl called Aliyah died on the spot but Omobewaji made it to the General Hospital, Ijebu Ode around 11am where the medical personnel on duty did so much to save her life. She got four pints of blood, her wounds were stitched up and bandaged, she was then placed on oxygen, we have spent so much but I was not bothered I just wanted to do everything to ensure that she survive the accident. The hospital then referred us to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu for better care but we were told to do the X-ray of her leg before leaving, it was while doing that that she gave up.
How old was Omobewaji?
She will be 17 in September.
Has she always been a student of Seico Secondary School or she only registered to do her WASSCE there?
Actually she was a student of Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode here but we got to know that she was pregnant when she got to SS3 last year, she was already five months pregnant when we got to know because we had thought that she was just having Malaria all along.So, she dropped out but I said that because a child made a mistake should not be an hindrance to make further progress in life, so I decided to register her as external candidate for WASSCE in Seico school so that she could still write the examination along with her set even though she will have to do it in another school. As God would have it, she gave birth to a baby boy on February 2nd, that's three months ago.
What kind of a daughter was Omobewaji?
She was a very good natured and brilliant girl, she had always told me right from primary school that she would love to study medicine, when you ask of her from her teachers at Adeola Odutola they will tell you that she was indeed a promising child. Even right on the hospital bed and still writhing in pains, someone who noticed how my daughter was speaking had to give us N10000, he said that this brilliant girl must not be allowed to die. She was my last born, unfortunately she was barely two years-old when her father died and since then I have been playing the role of father and mother to her and three other siblings. Just before she died last week, we were still drawing up plans of what she would be doing after she finished her exam. I said that I would register her in one of the private hospitals for nursing apprenticeship, I said that she would get busy doing that and by next year she would write the JAMB for her university admission, I have always told her that I will do my best to support her dream to be a doctor, she even said that her choice is University of Ilorin, I never knew it was all empty plans, now she's gone leaving behind for me a three month old child.
What about the driver of the truck?
What I heard before was that the driver ran away but the motor boy was arrested, however it's like both the driver and the motor boy are now under police custody
How have you been feeling since this incident happened?
I have been so sad, it has been so horrible, the pains are excruciating, I have been taking lots of injections but then I have also been trusting the Almighty God to strengthen me because I needed to be fit to be able to take care of the three months old child that she left behind for me.
How is the child doing without her mum?
The baby is fine, it is only that taking care of her has brought additional expenses. Prior to his mum's death, he was on exclusive breastfeeding but now we have to be giving him infant formula which is N12,500 per one. He is about finishing the third one, it has been through people's support here and there because we have actually spent so much in the hospital battling to save his mum, we couldn't have spent nothing less than N750,000 but God proves He loves her most. If there's anything I request it is government support, may be in form of scholarship for the little boy, it will really be appreciated.
Did you have any inkling of this incident?
No, I never suspected anything, in fact after breastfeeding her baby, she took pictures with him and then headed straight to school, that's how she does before going to write whatever paper she had everyday and after finishing the exam, she would call to say that she was done for the day and that she would soon be at home, even on that fateful Friday, she had called to say that she was through with the Biology paper and that she would soon be home. The ambulance that even evacuated the two girls away from the accident scene passed me by around Olisa, I never knew it has anything to do with me. I said some prayers to God to spare the lives of whoever they may be and continued with what I was doing.... About five minutes later I got a call that I should come to the General Hospital, that there was an accident and that was how got to know of all that happened.
People said that the rate of accident on this road has been quite disturbing since it was rehabilitated, that absence of road signs and speed breakers might have contributed to this sad reality
It is true that motorists plying this road are fond of excessive speed, may be because the road is now very good so having speed breakers on the road is highly necessary to curb this growing accident.
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