Man seeks justice over killing of his star son

Tragedy struck in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital penultimate Tuesday when a 13-year-old boy, Imisioluwa Kehinde was crushed to death by a truck belonging to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) while coming from his school in the afternoon.

The boy whose ambition was to become a medical doctor had reportedly left his school to pick his younger brother , Ayomipo Kehinde and other two children of his neighbour at their school, around Oke-Ijeun, Sapon in Abeokuta when he met his sudden death.

An eye witness told Vanguard that Imisioluwa, a Junior School Pupil of African Church Grammar School, Ita-Eko, Abeokuta , was crushed by the truck when he wanted to cross a road which was undergoing expansion at Oke-Ijeun.

Vanguard gathered that, the accident occurred due to alleged reckless driving of the truck driver who reportedly disobeyed the traffic rule by facing on-coming vehicles known as one-way driving. The tragic incident attracted the attention of passers-by who nearly lynched the driver of the truck as they attempted to set both the driver and the truck ablaze but, they were prevented by the policemen .

Vanguard gathered that the truck reportedly smashed Imisiokuwa’s head and killed him on the spot while his younger brother and two others sustained varying degrees of injury. They were rushed to the State hospital, Ijaye for treatment while the corpse of Imisioluwa was deposited at the state hospital morgue.

It was also gathered that the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Olamilekan Adegbite, visited the scene shortly after the incident and promised that justice will be done on the matter. Imisioluwa, according to the findings, was a very hard working and useful child to the parents and his neighbours.

Though, the remains of Imisioluwa had been buried , but, his father, Oluwambe Kehinde however, complained about the alleged attempt to perverse justice on the side of the government and the police.

The father while describing his late son as kind hearted boy , lamenting that he had lost Imisioluwa who was helpful to the family at his tender age. He also described him as a gentle, caring and a kind-hearted young boy who could do anything for the people around him and always wished to become a medical doctor so that he could help the poor and treat the sick ones around him.

“Imisioluwa had been helpful to me through his little daily contribution of N50 he had used the money to support me in buying last year Christmas clothes for the family. “The N50 contribution was a deduction he always deducted from his daily allowance of N100 I gave him. And sometimes, Imisioluwa will borrowed me some money to get food for the family whenever I had no money. “

Imisioluwa had advised me and his mother not to give birth again, so that we will be able to cater for him by sending him and his siblings to school. “So many times, my boy had represented his school, and had always been of help to the community and neighbours, especially to an 80 year-old woman who lives in our place, in Isabo.

“Everyday after he came back from school, he would fetch water for us and also for the woman and when the woman was told about his death, the woman wept profusely . “His death pained me because, about four people had promised to take him to Canada after his secondary school education, but , his dream had been short-lived.”

While seeking justice, the father said since the death of his son, the government or police have not done anything about the incident, and the truck driver has also been released from police custody in the name of medical treatment. He also said that, since the truck driver has been released, he had not heard anything about the case and justice had not be done on the matter.

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the incident occurred around 2: pm, adding that the deceased and his younger siblings crossed the road without properly observing the traffic on the route. Adejobi, also said that the driver of the truck had been arrested and detained at Ibara Police Station, but he had been released to go for medical treatment having been beaten by the mob that gathered after the incident.

He said “the truck had been taken to Ibara Police Station. We are on the case and I want to assure you that justice will be done.” Meanwhile, Vanguard reliably gathered that the government had compensated the family of the deceased with some little money, which was reportedly rejected by the father.

The matter, according to the findings might have been swept under the carpet as the Police were said to have asked the father to allow settlement out of the court. Although, the government especially , the Commissioner for Works had played some roles before , during and after the burial of the boy, the family was unhappy that neither the government nor the company had visited the family at their house. The father of the late boy , however, vowed to drag the affected company to court for redress.

SOURCE: Vanguard