My last word to her was when I called her my dear; she answered me with my dear – Reminisces husband of woman crushed to death by truck

Amidu Arije

For the family of Mrs. Tawakalitu Adeniji, it’s unending  tears, sorrow and grief, since the sad and tragic death of the 41-year-old mother of four.

Tawakalitu met her untimely death in an unfortunate accident involving a fully loaded truck, which had brake failure at Daleko area of Sango Ota, Ogun State, before skidding down to the toll gate to crush about 18 vehicles, leaving two persons dead on the spot while several others suffered injuries.

The deceased grade level 7 officer in the office of the Lagos State Governor was waiting for her husband at the Toll Gate bus stop before the truck, with Registration Number GZA 379 XR, sent her and one other victim, a man, to an early grave.

When The Nigerian Xpress spoke with the grieving husband, Mr. Ahmed Adeniji, he described his late wife as the dearest person to him and strong pillar, taking care of the family.

A sober but thankful Adeniji said they both left home together in the morning of that black day. As they were wont to going home together sometimes, he had asked his wife to wait for him at toll gate while he was at Ijaiye Area, heading towards the toll gate to join his lovebird.

However, that was not to be. By the time he got there, death had already dealt him a wicked cut by snatching his dear wife away.

When he could not see her, he was told that there had been an accident, which claimed two lives. That set his heart racing and he began the search for his better half.

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The search eventually climaxed at State Hospital, Sango Ota, where the injured were taken to for treatment. He did not see her but they were told that the dead had been deposited at the Ifo General Hospital morgue. They eventually got there; he saw the body of his wife and wept.

“Why this happened is unknown to me but well known to God. We left home together on this fateful day. There was usually a vehicle that used to pick her up to office every morning and she also waited for the person to pick her when coming back.

“But on this day, when I was coming back too from work, I called her and she told me she was at the toll gate. I asked her to wait for me so we could go home together. As at that time, I was at Ijaiye bus stop.

“On getting to toll gate, I dropped off at the Ajegunle bus stop because there was gridlock. I trekked down; it was not more than 30 minutes interval. When I called my wife’s phone number repeatedly and she didn’t pick, I became suspicious. I eventually got to the main toll gate to see heavy crowd wailing, then I knew something terrible had happened. I asked questions from onlookers. They told me there had been an accident that claimed some lives and that they had been rushed to the hospital.

“From there I took bike to the hospital to check if she was among the injured but did not find her. We were told that the dead had been taken to the Ifo General Hospital mortuary. I called my brother to help me confirm and he did. I got there too, it was my wife’s dead body I met in the mortuary,” he recalled.

Adeniji described his wife as a very loyal, committed and nice woman, who always made him happy.

“She made me happy always. Whenever I was angry, she calmed me down. Since we moved into our new apartment, we had never gone out to buy food. She was always making food available, no matter how tired she might be. She woke up at 3am every day to prepare for her office and children. My last word to her was when I called her and I told her my dear and she answered me with my dear; she was a very nice woman. We have been together for 20 years now,” he said.

Adeniji, an air conditioner technician, appealed to the government to come to his aid in making the dream of his wife a reality in the education pursuit of their children.

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“I want the government to please come to our aid in sending the children to school because my work is not enough to cater for the family. We were doing it together with my wife but now that she is dead, it will be difficult for me to do it alone, and I want to make sure the children go to school in accordance with my wife’s wishes.

She had wished that her children would work in the state ministry after they might have graduated. When we were dating she told me she wanted work that would give her rest of mind and she aimed at working in the ministry and as God would have it, she got the job,” he said.

A neighbor to the deceased woman, Mrs. Lucy Emekaomaka, described her as a very peaceful, loving and hardworking woman, who would never allow anything happen to the family. The death of Tawakalitu to her remains mysterious and unbelievable.

“People called me her mother because we were very close. She was a very peaceful person, hardworking and diligent. It is still unbelievable to me; I can’t just explain the way I feel. They say good people don’t last; that is the case of Tawakalitu,” she lamented.