4-Family Members Die on Daughters Graduation Day,

Friday is usually a special day many Muslim families look forward to, but to the members of the Bello family of Bayeku area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, Friday, April 6, 2013 will remain fresh in their memories for some time to come. That was the day four
members of the family and a
neighbour died prematurely
in an auto crash. A five
months old baby of the
family escaped the incident unhurt. Prior to that day, the family
had planned triple
celebrations: their daughter’s
graduation ceremony, car
dedication of their son and
the head of the family’s trip abroad alongside the
matriachax. All the plans
came to nought as a result of
the tragedy. The head of the family,
popularlly called Alhaji Bello,
was a prominent figure in
Bayeku following his
sponsorship of many Muslim
programmes including the recent turbanning of the first
Imam of the community
which took place the Sunday
preceding his sudden death. As part of the arrangements
for the trip abroad, Alhaji
Bello had placed a change of
name notice in Vanguard
which was published on the
day of crash. The family had not even bought a copy of
the paper before the accident
occurred around 12noon at
Agbowa-Ikosi area of Lagos
State. Five persons including the
five month old baby were in
one of the cars the family
members were travelling in
while two others were in
another as they headed for the graduation ceremony of
their daughter at a tertiary
educational institution in
Ogun State. All the five persons in one car
with the exception of the
baby: Alhaji Bello, his
daughter- in- law and her
parents, together with a
neighbour, died while the matriach and her son in the
other car survived. An eye witness, Madam
Kehinde Olufade, said the
family had had a smooth
journey until they
approached a crater at Ikosi
where motorists had to slow down. But due to the
dilapidated nature of
Agbowa road, a trailer left its
own side of the road and
faced the car Alhaji Bello was
driving, forcing him to manouver before a tipper
rammed into him from
behind. The car landed in a
ditch. ‘’As soon as the car landed in
the ditch, the tipper also lost
control and fell on top of the
car killing the four members
of the family and their
neighbour on the spot.The Bellos daughter-in-law, who
was carrying her five months
old baby at the time of
incident, died while the baby
miraculously survived”,the
eye witness narrated When the news of their
demise filtered into their
community, it unsettled
residents. The community
development association
(CDA) wanted the victims buried before sunset in
accordance with Muslim
tradition, but some indigenes
countered them, saying some
rituals must be performed
before the arrival of the corpses in the community as
the death of the family
members portended a bad
omen.