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The death of her husband, Kazeem Lawal, a staff of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, who collapsed and died last Saturday while on duty at the Idi-Araba area of Lagos, has reduced her to tears and sorrow.
Sunday PUNCH had reported earlier in the week that Lawal, who was controlling the traffic along Ishaga Road during a programme at the Chapel of the Healing Cross, Idi-Araba, opposite the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, suddenly fell down and began to gasp for breath and died later before he could get medical attention. The incident was said to have occurred around 1:30pm.
Not even the efforts of his colleagues to resuscitate him or take him to the hospital could yield any result. He was long gone, leaving his wife, four children (15, 13, nine and one respectively) and two siblings behind.
When Saturday Punch visited the home of the deceased during the week, the house, located somewhere in Ebute Metta, Lagos, was a shadow of itself. The silence resonating from the premises of this old bungalow was noteworthy.
On entering the one room apartment in the tenement house (popularly known as face-me-I-face-you), where the deceased lived with his wife and four children, his own apartment was a modest one, decorated with two pieces of furniture, two television sets, a mattress, window unit Air Conditioning and their belongings.
Sitting at the edge of one of the sofa was the deceased’s wife, Igbekele, whose eyes had already swollen due to her endless cries. She was almost inconsolable, but after much persuasion, she summoned some courage to talk, even though the words came out with enormous effort and sorrow.
“He wasn’t sick before he left the house. He wasn’t given to fasting, so he would always eat well. We ate together before he left the house that morning. So, how did it happen? What happened to him?” she wondered aloud as she wiped the tears on her face and pampered her baby who would clock one year old on Wednesday, July 22, 2015.
She recalled that she had woken up early that Saturday morning to prepare the breaking meal (Saari) for two of her children who were observing the Ramadan fasting when he told her to make some eba for him so he could eat before going to work.
She sobbed as she said, “Both of us were not fasting but our two boys were, so, when I woke up very early in the day to prepare their breaking meal (Saari), he said I should make some eba for him as well, because he would need to eat before leaving the house. I did and we ate together and it was fun that morning. After that, we all went back to bed.
“At about 6:30am – 7:00am, I woke him up to go and get set for work and I also prepared my children for school. He took some money from me and left, with the promise to be back on time because we were planning the final burial of his stepmother slated for August 2, 2015. I saw him off, and that was the last I saw of him.”
She said she was home when she got the information that her husband fainted while on duty and had been rushed to the hospital. “When I got the information, I opted to go and see him at the hospital but the people who brought the information didn’t allow me. I didn’t suspect that anything was wrong with him because he was hale and hearty when he left the house, so I had no cause to fear, until it was confirmed to me that he was dead.”
When Lawal was leaving the house for an assignment, little did his wife and children know that that would be the last time they would see him. She noted that they all cried and wailed, except the youngest who was too young to know what was happening, but later started vomiting.
Igbekele was moving her lips but not audible, until she went back to tears and said, “He never came back. They only brought his bag home. Before he left the house, he told me one of the tenants in his father’s house would come and pay rent and that I should use part of the money to pay for the aso ebi chosen for the burial of his stepmother in August.
“I had wanted to call him when the person brought the money but I felt he would soon be back and that there was no need since he already told me what to do. I never knew I wouldn’t see him again. The next time I saw him was in death. Who would take care of his four children?
“On Friday night when he came back home, after eating, we all shared a bottle of a soft drink amidst laughter and banter. No one can love us the way he did. He really loved his family to a fault. He would always take his children out and hang out with them. They were close, but since he died, they have been asking me who would take care of them and ensure that their education is not truncated. He loved his children. Who will now love us as much now that he’s gone?”
Whilst trying to console herself and wipe her face, she opened the photo album again, showed our correspondent his photograph and said, “Does this person look sick? Look at his photograph. Does he look sick? He wasn’t sick. I don’t know. Rasheed was not sick. He just left me and our four children in distress.”
Igbekele, who is into selling charcoal, whilst mourning her husband, is now more worried about the future of her children. She stated that the deceased, who was a mechanic before he got the job, was one of the first employees of LASTMA when it was newly established, and that he never complained about his job.
She said, “Since we got married about 16 years ago, on a Valentine’s Day, I’ve always known him to be a strong man. He loved what he was doing as a LASTMA officer and that was why he was committed to it. We loved it too. He never complained, in spite of the associated stress,” she stressed.
“When he was a mechanic, things were hard. In fact, meeting our needs was difficult. But when he got the job, we were all happy. We rejoiced and celebrated it because, coincidentally, his letter of employment came the day we were doing the naming ceremony of our second child. So, we named the child ‘Olamilekan.’ It was like a divine arrangement that he got the job, and things improved for us.”
However, Lawal, who was already preparing for the burial ceremony of his stepmother on August 2, 2015 would no longer be opportune to attend the event, as he died before the set date and had already been buried.
On some promises made by the deceased before death took him away, Igbekele said Lawal, who would have clocked 40 in December, had promised a moment of fun when their last child clocks one on July 22, Wednesday next week.
“He said we would take a family photograph and glaze it, but that can’t happen again. He even promised to reward two of his children that have been observing the Ramadan fast by buying clothes for them, but now he’s no more,” she lamented.
While calling on the public and the relevant government agency to come to her rescue for the sake of her four children, she also appealed to LASTMA authorities not to forget the family.
“My concern now is how to take care of my children. I’m calling on his employer not to forget his family. I can’t do it alone,” she said.
Meanwhile, efforts to get the LASTMA spokesperson, Mrs. Bola Ajao, to comment on the incident were not successful, as her number was not reachable. Also, the General Manager of the outfit, Mr. Babatunde Edu, did not pick his calls while the text message sent to his telephone number was not replied as of press time.
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