Father demands probe into deaths of children in Ondo, questions drowning claim

By Boye Oyeyemi

Samuel Jonah, the father of three children, including a set of twins, found dead near a stream on a farm in the 32 Artillery Brigade Army Barracks, Akure, Ondo State, has rejected the claim that they drowned and called for a thorough investigation into their deaths.

The children, identified as 11-year-old twins Joshua and Jacob and their five-year-old sister, Blessing, were found dead near the stream on Saturday.

Jonah said his suspicion was heightened by what he allegedly observed when the bodies were recovered, claiming that there was blood around their ears and on the body of his youngest child, while the corpses were not sufficiently wet to convince him that they had drowned.

According to the father, the children had accompanied him and their mother to the farm on Friday but remained there after he briefly left to collect his salary, adding that he returned home with their mother and expected the children to come back by 6 p.m.

However, when the children had not returned by 8 p.m., Jonah said he became alarmed and immediately returned to the farm to search for them, before alerting military police officers at the barracks, while relatives and other family members continued the search into Saturday.

He said soldiers later informed him that the children had been found near a small stream and suggested that they had died in the water, a claim he questioned, wondering how all three siblings could have died in the same circumstances.

Jonah said he suspected that other people might have been involved in the deaths, although he acknowledged that he had no evidence against anyone. The children’s uncle, Mazi Hassan, also called for a comprehensive investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Meanwhile, the Ondo State Police Command confirmed that it had commenced an investigation into the incident, with its spokesman, DSP Jimoh Abayomi, saying the circumstances surrounding the deaths were being documented, while the Army spokesman in Ondo State, Omale Innocent, said he learnt of the incident through social media and confirmed that the police had taken over the investigation.