A grieving father has shared the painful story of how his nine-year-old daughter, Saratul Lawal, was reportedly killed by a vehicle in the convoy of Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, during her official visit to Akure, Ondo State.
Speaking in an emotional interview with SaharaReporters on Friday, the father described the tragic event that has left his family and the Oba Ile community in deep sorrow.
“Yesterday, I was on the road,” the father began, his voice heavy with grief. He further stated, “I stood by the road and saw them when they were going to the airport to carry the President’s wife. I saw the convoy when they were coming back too. But when the incident happened, I was not at that particular spot.”
The father recounted how he was alerted by eyewitnesses, primarily members of the Yoruba community, who claimed that a vehicle from the First Lady’s convoy was responsible for crushing his daughter.
“It did not happen in my presence. It was people who saw it that came to call me, saying one of my daughters had been killed on the road. By the time I rushed there, they had already taken her to the hospital,” he said.
Despite the heartache, the father expressed reluctance to accuse the First Lady’s convoy without concrete evidence directly.
He said, “People were telling me to go to the government house to tell them their convoy killed my daughter. I said I can’t do that. What I did not see with my own eyes, I can’t say it was them or not. But many people, the Yoruba people, said they saw it—that it was the convoy.”
The bereaved father revealed that his daughter’s name was Saratul, a nine-year-old pupil at an Islamic school in Shasha, Akure.
While initial reports suggested she was seven years old, the father clarified, saying, “Her name was Saratul. She was nine years old.”
He added, “Me, I fear God. All of us will die one day. So I won’t lie. It’s the people around the police station, those opposite the station, that saw how the vehicle killed her.”
There had been reports that the incident occurred when a Hilux vehicle in Mrs. Tinubu’s convoy allegedly struck Saratul while it was en route from Akure airport to the event venue.
The First Lady was in Akure to launch the South-West leg of the “Renewed Hope Initiative,” which aims to distribute professional kits to nurses and midwives.
In response to the allegations, the Ondo State Police Command issued a statement denying that any vehicle from the First Lady’s convoy was involved in the incident.
The police spokesperson clarified that preliminary investigations and eyewitness accounts pointed to a hit-and-run driver in an unregistered white Lexus vehicle as the cause of the accident.
The police maintained that no vehicle associated with the First Lady’s convoy was responsible for the tragic event.
