Balikisu Omolabake Temitope Lamina, a graduate who was observing the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, is dead!
The young lady was said to have been returning to school after traveling to rejoice with the family on the safe return of the mother from the holy land for this year’s pilgrimage, where hundreds were confirmed dead from various disasters.
The Nation reports that the father, Lateef Lamina, a senior sales executive officer with New Telegraph newspaper, could not hold back tears while narrating his last moments with his late daughter whom he referred to as his ‘hope’.
He said: “My hope is dashed.”
Omolabake Lamina is dead
“Balikisu, my brilliant, promising and talented daughter who had passion for broadcasting is gone. The mother travelled to Mecca and came back successfully. When she came back, we were all happy that she survived the misfortune that happened during the pilgrimage. She (my late daughter) decided to come home to see her. She was given about four weeks to be away from her service post.
“Within two weeks of her stay with us, they started calling to say that her attention was urgently needed. She was serving at Rima Television in Sokoto and, at the same time, a top member of the press crew. When the call was coming, I started having premonition that something was about to happen. I kept praying for God to be in control. Her elder sister, Kadijat was also serving in Kebbi State.
“When it was time for her to go back, I followed her to Iddo where she was to take a bus to Sokoto. When we got there, I saw a Sienna bus that looked new, and we paid. We had an agreement with the driver that he would take her to Sokoto. She boarded the vehicle and we bade each other goodbye.
“Instead of taking her to Sokoto as agreed, the driver dropped her off in Kaduna. As at 11.30 pm when we spoke, she was at Kau Motor Park. I wanted her to pass the night around the area but she said she had already got a vehicle and that it remained just two passengers for it to be full. Eventually, they got the remaining passengers and left. I wished her journey mercy, hoping to speak with her in the morning.
“At about few minutes past 4:00 a.m., my phone rang. When I answered the call, the caller asked if I was the father of Balikisu, and I replied in the affirmative. She went on to say that my daughter was involved in an accident and that she died on the spot. I became disconcerted and wished it was a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream. It was real.
“My daughter who I saw off the previous night, and spoke with few hours before the sad news came, had died in an auto crash. I was told that the accident occurred at about 2:00 a.m. in Zamfara.”
“A survivor said the vehicle conveying them had head-on collision with a lorry carrying cows. He said my daughter was sitting behind the driver and was trapped when the accident occurred and that she was the only one that died on the spot. Immediately the day broke, the mother gave me some me some money to quickly travel down there.
“As I was making the arrangement, my first child who is serving in Kebbi State said I shouldn’t bother coming because she didn’t want any unpleasant thing to also happen to me. She would make arrangement for the remains to be brought back. I quickly sent her some money to get a vehicle that would bring my late daughter’s remains back. Along the line, the NYSC assistant director in Sokoto called to sympathise with me.
“He asked if as a Muslim I would want her buried immediately over there or would like to see her remains. I said I would like to see her remains. He then asked me to leave the responsibility to them. They actually brought her back in their vehicle and took active part in her burial. They also gave us N30, 000 to entertain guests that came, but we didn’t do that because it is against our custom. I really commend them for their efforts.”
Speaking glowingly of his daughter even in death, Mr Lamina stated: “My pain as a father is that I did everything possible for my children not to be posted far away but it didn’t work out. I have been working in the media industry for over 30 years and looking forward to seeing my highly talented and brilliant child who had passion to work in the media but bad government policies have made that impossible.
“My hope is dashed. I don’t have university degree. I only managed to have diploma when I was working with Concord Press in the north. As poor as I am, I struggled to train two of my children in the university but the Nigerian factor has robbed me of my joy. I never liked the idea of travelling over a long distance because of NYSC. What is the big deal about the programme that I have had to lose my precious daughter because of it?
“Though, I don’t want to believe that she was killed by anybody, but if they had not mounted pressure on her to return to her duty post, she would (not) have died. How could I have struggled to nurture my children to this point and the government took both of them to that distance? I know that if they were serving here that similar thing could have happened, but it would have been better if it had happened close by than in distant place.
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