Furious students sign protest letter to Ambode, as classmates drown in Lagos beach
By Jet Stanley Madu
A wave of protest is gathering in Lagos State, following the tragic death of two post-graduate students of the University of Lagos (Unilag), Adesola Ogunmefun and Funmi Odusina, in Elegushi Beach recently. Hundreds of students have signed an online petition in honour of the victims, which would be sent to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. The petitioners decryed the regular loss of lives on the beach and demanded safety standard.
Some of the signatories to the petition told the Sun Education that the poor safety measures on the beach had turned the delightful resort to a death trap. Aggrieved classmates of deceased have also planned a protest walk in Lagos this week to draw public attention to the increasing death toll on Lagos beach.
The deceased, Ogunmefun, 27, and Odusina, 24, graduated from the Covenant University and had completed their projects for a Masters degree at Unilag, before their untimely death. Like a fairy tale, both had attended a birthday party organised by their friend, Bolu, and were having an evening fun on the beach when an aggressive wave swooped on them and swept them into the ocean. Efforts by sympathisers to rescue them failed. Ogunmefun was fished out dead, while Odusina passed away few minutes later on the way to the hospital.
Sun Education reporter visited the Department of International Law and Diplomacy, Unilag, where aggrieved classmates of the deceased blamed the death of their colleagues on the poor safety standard on the busy beach. According to Miss Judith Nwodo, an undergraduate of the department, lack of life -guards, emergency medical units and necessary safety control measures had resulted to preventable loss of lives in the area on regular basis.
One of the students, Mr. Sowemimo John, who completed his Master’s degree programmes in International Law and Diplomacy recently, expressed shock over the death of his course mates. According to him, his last moment with the deceased was during the exam period.
“We were colleagues, we see most times in the evening when we come for lectures. We had course to interact when questions were asked in class. They were intelligent people. We did projects together. They were very, very vibrant ladies”, he said.
Rather than blame the ladies for being careless on the beach, Sowemimo said Elegushi beach has been troubleshooting. He decried the neglect of virtually all beach resorts in the state and demanded urgent action from the state government.
Sowemimo revealed that a group of friends of the deceased had already started circulating an online protest letter, which would be sent to the Lagos State Governor. “Before you came in, I was trying to sign an online petition that a couple of friends wrote, especially from the Covenant University. We got that link and we signed the one they promise to send to the Governor of Lagos State, so that the government can do something about the Elegushi beach. We can’t continue like this,” he revealed.
He said there were scary reports of rising sea level and frequent tide on that beach, yet no precautionary measure had been taken by the government.
Sowemimo said sad new of the students’ death hit their class Whassap chat-room like a thunderbolt, and left scores of students utterly devastated. “I think it would have helped if the authorities who are collecting these monies at the beach would alert people of danger because the wave is so vigorous and could cause harm. Obviously, our beaches are not safe. There are no lifejackets, no guards, no divers. I mean people are helpless when things like that happen”.
Another Master’s degree student in Sport Psychology, Mr. Clifford Iroh, said he read about the death of the two female students online. He argued that there was nothing wrong for matured people to choose to unwind anywhere, anytime and anyhow they choose.
“After reading it, the first thing that came to my mind was the fact that the two ladies who got drowned are mature. I feel they should have control of themselves and so, should know where there is danger. Now is not the case of pointing accusing fingers on who should have taken care of what. But the authorities should always take proactive steps to put things right to avoid incidents like this”.
Other students urged the management of the beach to send an apology to the families of the deceased and demanded that the government should shut the beach until it has life- guards and wave alarm system to prevent further disaster.
Findings revealed that Bolu, who survived the incident, had been discharged from the hospital but efforts made to speak with her fell through.
One of the victims, Odusina, missed her daddy’s birthday but went with her friend to the beach party.
In a moving tribute by her elder brother, Gbenga Odusina, he said: “Happy birthday to my dad. As much as I would have loved to celebrate his 65th birthday, death snatched away his baby daughter, my sister, Funmi. I have never experienced death this close. I still saw her in the afternoon (Sunday) making up. I even told her ‘Funmi, you’re really dressed like a big madam today’. She cleaned her room so well; maybe she knew she was going to meet her creator a few hours later. I saw her lifeless body at the mortuary and all I could do was wonder how? But I never really queried how God does His things and I continue to give thanks to Him for all. Rest in peace dear sister!”
Her elder sister, Bukola, said their family was devastated beyond words, noting that the sad incident left their parents speechless. She called for safety measures on the beach to prevent such irretrievable loss.
Friends of the deceased had continued to pour their grief for sweet memories that had been washed away by an unfriendly wave. One of the friends wrote, “No goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.”
Dean of Students Affairs, Unilag, Prof Babatunde Babalakin, said the school authorities have started investigation on the issue. “We are looking into the matter and as soon as the investigation is concluded, an official statement shall be released.”