Bereaved Families Of Triplets And Other Passengers Who Lost Their Lives In Boat Mishap In Benue, Recall Their Pains

The Boat Mishap of last Sunday, the fifth of July, has left indelible pains in hearts of the relatives of those who lost their lives in the incident. Their relatives were parents, sons, and daughters.

According to reports, twenty six passengers died in the mishap. Very worrisome, is the deaths of Triplets in the incident, one girl and two boys, because, a parent who lost three children at the same time, will be in a state of confusion, if not well condoled.

It is painful to note that the Triplets were happily born the same day but sadly, died the same day.

According to sources, the tragedy happened when the locally made boat said to have the capacity of 15 passengers carried over 30 passengers and capsized midstream to their destination, at about 2.30 pm that day.

While some of the passengers were said to have been rescued alive, the triplets were unlucky.

At the Mobile Police Barracks Adeke, Makurdi, where the majority of the youths that lost their lives came from, the atmosphere can best be described as gloomy after thel mishap.

Some of the victims were children and youths of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) Church, Adeke. The youths were said to have gone for final song rehearsals, across River Benue, in preparation for their annual conference tagged ‘New Life for All’ (Sabon Rai).

It was gathered that the annual event was organized for members of the Biblical Reformed Christ Church for All Nations, BIRCCAN, Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria, CRCN, and Evangelical Church of West Africa, ECWA.

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The victims, children, and relatives of mobile police officers residing at MOPOL 13 Barracks, met their untimely death when they tried to cross from Agbor, Innyongu Area of Wadata to a village in an island opposite Kwaghter called Ole-Gabu, for the day’s programme. Most of the mobile policemen are said to be on special duties in the North East, leaving their wives and children in Makurdi.

Up till now, Mrs Ronance Vincent, eldest sister of the triplets, and Paulina, Paul, and Peter, who lost their lives in the unfortunate boat accident, still finds it difficult to accept the fact that her siblings are all gone like the wind, never to be seen again.

Paulina, Paul, and Peter were 17-years-old, respectively.

Mrs Ronance had been taking care of the home front because their father, a Mobile policeman, had been on special duty in Maiduguri. At the same time, their mother, who traveled to Gombe sometimes in April, could not return to Makurdi due to the lockdown as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Narrating her last moment with the triplets, Mrs Ronance said that, on that Sunday after service, she had tried to dissuade her siblings from making that trip because of the torrential rainfall, which lasted for several hours on Saturday.

“I told them that they shouldn’t go because River Benue would be too full, but they insisted that they would go,” she recalled. “Paulina even told me that I was trying to dampen her faith.

That afternoon after church service, Paulina came and told me that she was ready to go and that I should give her fare, but I told her that I didn’t have money.

She then picked the N200 that a friend had given me to keep for her, which I had dropped on the window and showed it to me. I told her it was actually for my friend but that she could use it.

As for Peter and Paul, they had saved money for the trip before that day, so it was easy for them to go.

“But all the same, I almost stopped them because I felt that something was not just right about that trip.

In any case, this is not the first time they had gone for the programme. Even I had gone several times in the past.”

Asked how she learned about the accident that day, Mrs Ronance said that at about 4 pm, a member of the church called her on the phone and asked if her siblings were back. “

At that point, I heard my sister’s voice outside, and I told the caller that they were back, but he said I should check to see if they were back.

When I got outside, I didn’t see my sister. There was nobody outside our block at all, which was very strange at that time of the day.

As I called the person back to tell him they weren’t back yet, he just dropped the call.

“Around 5 pm, I was in the kitchen preparing food for my mum who was on her way back from Gombe to Makurdi, that day, after being away for about two months, when she called to say that somebody just called to tell her that there was a boat mishap in Makurdi.

She said that I should go to CRCN Church in Wadata to meet other people so that we could all go and look for them.

When I got there, I was told they had moved to Ijaha. By the time I got there, only one lifeless body of one of the victims had been recovered from the river.

We waited till late that night, but the divers and marine police officers could not rescue anyone nor recover any other corpse so, we were asked to go home and come back the following day.

If I knew it would end this way, I would have stopped them from going on that journey,” she said as she broke down in uncontrollable tears.

“Paulina loved church activities very much,” she added, after regaining some semblance of composure after wiping her eyes. “She was the Secretary of Sabon Rai in our church.

Peter and Paul were very calm boys. Paulina wanted to go to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) to become a military officer. Both boys loved football and played it very well.”

Ketura Adamu, who was like a big sister to the triplets, said she had been with them for two weeks and just left the house on Thursday before the Sunday of the tragedy with a promise to return a week later.

“I was shocked to hear that the triplets I left at home had drowned in the river,” she told Saturday Sun. “

I prayed and prayed, hoping that they would come back alive, but alas, they were all gone.” Then she broke down in tears.

Other families narrate their losses.
Mr Bulus John, student pastor with ECWA 3 Adeke told how he lost five siblings in the boat tragedy.

They were: Dogara Bulus, 18, Mary Bulus 16, Saadetu Kabani, Precious Kabani 12, and Mary Ibrahim.

He explained that although the Bulus family had four children, they also had other relations who were staying with them.

So, in all, five youngsters from the same home died in the accident.

On how he learned of the sad news, he said: ”I just finished praying, and I saw a missed call from my mum around 7 pm.

When I called back, my mum told me the news and I couldn’t believe it. I just took my Bible and went there. I called some of my friends to go with me to the riverside.”

Asked what kind of children were his siblings while they were alive, John said they were very involved in church activities. “Dogara was very active in the Church.

Usually, before things happen, I used to hear from God, but this one was very blank. I didn’t hear from God.

No message or sign that any such a thing would happen. My friend was just reminding me about a dream I had two months ago, where I saw massive deaths. I thought it was this coronavirus.”

Lamido Sanni, younger brother to one of the victims, Shadrach, lamented that his brother just completed his National Youth Service last year and had been doing all within his power to get a good job.

Each person paid N200 as transport fare, it was learned. They were going for combined rehearsals of choir members from BIRCAN Church, CRCN Church, and ECWA Church, preparatory for the annual Sabin Rai conference.

The District Church Council (DCC) Secretary of ECWA Church, Rev. Benjamin Dooga, who led pastors of the District to commiserate with families of the victims and to get the names of the victims told newsmen that as sad as the incident was, the Church had surrendered to the will of God who knows and understands all things.

“The church as believers in Jesus believes God is supreme, and no human can question His authority,” he said. “

Since we are human, we cannot understand what has happened, but He understands. What has happened is for the good of the church. Pastors of EWCA within Makurdi have come to identify with the affected families. We should all know that this world is nothing, so people should go back to God because we don’t know when we will leave this planet earth. So, we should live our lives as if we are going to die tomorrow.”

At the time of filing this report,18 bodies had been recovered, many of which were buried by the riverside.