Mystery: pregnant woman dies after falling inside pits twice in one week

Mystery: pregnant woman dies after falling inside pits twice in one week

late Blessing




the pit
The look on his face said it all, and it was a
look with many emotions rolled up in one.
Each of his words was laced with a deep
sense of grief, despair, and confusion; he
had lost his woman and his first son in one
day.
Buchi Eze, 30, stood awkwardly on the edge
of the pit, where his woman, Blessing, had
fallen to her death. She was 23 years old and
was eight months pregnant.
Perhaps, Eze’s confusion overrode other
emotions as he told his story because only a
day before, Blessing had just returned home
from a hospital, where she was on
admission for four days after falling inside a
pit beside the one in which she had taken
her last fall.



“I am confused; I don’t understand how my
woman fell inside the pits twice in one
week,” he said with a look that seemed to
be seeking for answers in the air.
“Her death was painful and I don’t think it
was natural. The pits have been there for a
long time and she met them here when she
moved in with me in January, so how did
she fall inside the pits twice in six days? She
was not mentally unstable and did not show
any suicidal tendencies.
“All the children in the compound pass there
always and none of them has fallen inside
before, so I am still confused. After she fell
inside one of the pits the first time, I
dismissed it as a mistake, but after the
second one, I concluded that it was not
natural.”
The couple shared a rented room in an
uncompleted building on Akinola Street in
Lusada community, Ado-Odo/Ota Local
Government Area of Ogun State, until the
incident.
Both pits were meant to serve as septic tank
and soak away for the adjoining house but
because there was no fence separating the
buildings, Eze and other occupants of the
house only had to walk about two metres
from their backyard door to reach the edge
of the pits.
Both pits had been overgrown by weeds
after being abandoned since 2012.
Eze had not slept in the house since the
incident occurred because he was afraid of
what memories of Blessing and all they
shared would come with. He feared the
worst; he was frightened that they would
bring nightmares and more tears.
Since Blessing’s death, Eze has been having
goose pimples every now and then, so he
concluded that her spirit still hovered
nearby.
Eze’s curiosity was also piqued by Blessing’s
last words to him after he had jumped in
the pit to save her.
“I was on my way home when I heard that
my woman was in pit the second time,” he
said.
“When I got there, I saw my woman lying
face down in the pit again. She was sleeping
gently when I left home. She lay on the
ground face down. People were holding me
but I jumped inside the pit.
“As I raised her head up, she seemed to
regain consciousness. I said ‘why again? Do
you want to kill me? She said she did not
know how she got there, and that she just
realised where she was as we were talking.”
First fall
The first incident occurred at around 6pm
on Monday, July 25, 2016, while Eze was
away at a mill in Agbara, an industrial estate,
where he used to hustle for casual labour
for N850 a day.
“Around the time the first incident occurred,
I was at the flour mill and I started having a
strange feeling that something bad was
happening,” he said.
“I was getting angry for no reason at all and
about 30 minutes later, my neighbour called
me on the phone to say that I should return
home immediately.

“When I got home, I saw my woman lying
down beside one of the pits. She had been
brought out. I was told that she fell inside
the pit. I asked one of my neighbours to
take her to the hospital while I tried to
withdraw money from the Automated Teller
Machine. The woman helped me take her to
the hospital. The doctor rejected her and
said he could not handle the case. Then she
was taken to another hospital, where she
was accepted and treated well. Some
pastors also prayed for her and she was
okay. We were in the hospital for four days
and then the doctor said she needed blood
and that it would cost me N20, 000.
“I did not have the money, and I told the
doctor I was expecting some money-
N30,000, so he said I should take her home
and bring her back anytime I had the
money. I planned to buy her blood tonic and
fruits pending when I would be able to take
her back to the hospital.
“We returned home on Friday, July 29, and
ate and played together. She bathed and
said she felt okay. We prayed and slept. We
did a scan and the baby was said to be fine-
a bouncing baby boy.
Second fall
“On Saturday morning, I boiled some water
for her and after she bathed, she said she
wanted to eat and I gave her food. It was
Lusada market day. So I left to buy her some
fruits so that she could use that to replenish
till when the money I was expecting would
come.
“Then, I had an ominous feeling again. I said
what kind of sign is this? So I started going
home. By the time I approached the house, I
heard people shouting. When I got home, I
saw my woman lying down in the pit
again.”
Blessing was taken to the hospital again but
before midnight, she and her baby were
confirmed dead.

“The doctor said he would remove the baby
to try to save her and I said no problem, let
my woman just be okay,” Eze continued.
“After the doctor removed the baby, we saw
that he was dead. I think the problem was
serious because she hit her tummy on
ground when she fell. Then my woman
went into a coma and started vomiting
blood from her mouth and nose. Everyone
was shouting, even the doctor said he had
never seen anything like it.
“He tried and tried to save her but couldn’t.
We called her name, she didn’t answer but
her eyes remained open. She was not
talking but blood was coming out of her
mouth. I was calling her people to tell them
what was happening. By 11.30, the
generator went out and by the time they put
it back on, she took her last breath. I
touched her, but she did not move again,
she did not talk to me. I was just confused. I
looked at the baby; I looked at her. Both of
them were dead.”
When Blessing was alive, Eze said the two of
them had had a playful argument over
which sex they wanted their baby to be and
he was glad when a scan confirmed his
wish to have a boy.
So he named the baby Austin while Blessing
said she would keep her child’s name to
herself till she was delivered of the baby.
Eze’s parents in Imo State had also been
expectant that finally one of their sons
would give them a grandson, even though
one of their daughters already had a son.
Sadly, Eze used his own hands to bury his
first son, an experience he described as one
of his most painful.
“People had to contribute money for me to
take my woman to the mortuary as I had no
money again,” he said.
“The doctor gave me N7, 000 and got me a
vehicle to take her to a mortuary in Badagry.
Then I returned to the hospital to take the
baby. I wrapped him in nylon and prayed for
him.
“Then I took him to where I buried him. It
was very painful to use my hands to bury my
first child. I never thought I could find myself
in that position. No, Blessing and I didn’t
expect this at all when we spoke fondly
about our baby.
“When I pass by couples laughing together
now, I remember her and tears flood my
eyes. Also, when I see someone with a new
born baby, I remember my dead child.”
Fighting back tears, Eze said he already
missed Blessing, who he described as his
“love and adviser”. He said it was Blessing
that had given him some sanity since he lost
his job at the mill, where he used to work as
a contract staff.
“She always advised and encouraged me,”
he said. “Anytime I didn’t have money, she
would assure me not to worry and that
everything would be fine. Sometimes, we
would drink garri together. We would stroll
in the streets, talk and laugh. We ate and
bathed together. Everything about us just
matched.
“I was still going to the flour mill daily
because sometimes, if there was shortage
of workers, they would come out to get
people to work for N850 for the day. We
were using that to survive. Sometimes when
I had no work to do, I would return home in
a bad mood. But she would encourage me
to take it easy and that things would be fine
someday.
“It is also painful she died because she has
suffered with me. So why would she just go
like that? She really tried for me. She would
encourage me not to give up.”
Both of Igbo origin from Eastern Nigeria,
Eze’s immediate problem is to get Blessing’s
body to the East for burial and final rites.
In line with their tradition, Eze is expected to
marry the Blessing as the two had not
formalised their union before her death.
“I almost died when I realised that she was
dead,” he said.
“I started thinking of so many things. I
understand the Igbo culture and I knew I
was in trouble since I had not formalised
the union, although; I had her mother’s
permission to bring her to Lagos. My family
and hers are in the East. My family has gone
to her family house in the village but her
family said they would not say anything till
they see their daughter’s body.
“The family is saying that I should bring her
body and that has further compounded my
problem. They have accused me of killing
their daughter and that because we had not
formalised the union, I would have to marry
her, do the traditional marriage, pay her
dowry and perform everything I was
expected to do if she was alive. Blessing and
I had planned to travel to the East in
December to start preparations to formalise
the union.
“Now I want to get her body to Imo State
first, that is my priority now. I just want to
get the money I need to bury her so that she
can rest in peace. It was a painful death so
her spirit will still be roaming the streets.
“The driver that wants to take the body
there wants to collect N60,000 and the
estimate of the amount I would need to
settle the mortuary and get to the east is
N25,000. So I need at least N85,000 to get
my woman’s body to the East.”
Meanwhile, Eze said even though some of
his neighbours had sympathised with him,
the man who owns the septic tank andthe
pit his woman had fallen into had not done
so.
“His wife came to say sorry but the husband
did not come; he does not talk to Igbo
people in this area because we supported
former President Goodluck Jonathan and he
supported President Muhammadu Buhari,”
he said.
But the neighbour Eze had referred to, Mr.
Oyewole Ogundele, denied Eze’s claims,
saying he had recently got a new job that
had been taking a lot of his time.
He, however, accused Eze of being rude to
him in the past.
“The lady died in the hospital; she did not
die in the pit,” he said.
“He was not taking care of the lady and the
first time the lady fell inside the pit, my wife
and I were the ones who called on other
neighbours to force him to take her to the
hospital. He did not want to take her to the
hospital because he did not have money.
“She was rejected by three hospitals before
they got to the hospital that agreed to treat
her. The guy did not have money to pay for
her bills. Then the hospital rejected and he
brought the lady home. The lady needed
blood and was not okay.
“According to him, he went to get her fruits
when the second incident occurred, but the
lady was looking for him up and down and
imagine somebody that had shortage of
blood roaming up and down, her eyes
would be dizzy.
‘That was how she fell inside the pit the
second time. I was not at home when it
happened. She died because there was lack
of money to take care of her. This guy has
not talked to me in almost two years, but the
lady was nice to me. She was very nice to
me, but the guy never greeted me. ”
On the reason why the septic tank and soak
away were left open, Ogundele said: “I
know, I just got a new job about three
weeks ago. Very soon, I will start work on it.
Thank you for your advice. I appreciate.
“When I started the project in 2012, we dug
them for soak away and septic tank but
could not complete them.
“Along the line, we had some challenges. I
lost my job and had some crisis to the
extent that I had to abandon the project and
when the landlord was troubling me and
even took me court, I left and moved into my
uncompleted building. It is not as if I
abandoned them (pits), and they are on my
land.
“You would see that the house is not
plastered, but very soon, we would complete
the soak away and septic tank.”
Another neighbour, who identified himself
as Alfa Saheed, also described Blessing’s
death as mysterious, saying “nobody
understands how she fell inside the pits
twice.”
He also said it could be that Blessing was
feeling dizzy since she was said to have
needed blood.
“But Eze didn’t take care of the lady; the lady
needed blood,” he added. “Even small
children play there but don’t fall inside.”
Legal angle
Lagos State Commissioner for Environment,
Dr. Samuel Adejare, could not be reached on
his mobile telephone as it was switched off,
but a lawyer, Mr. Wahab Shittu, said the
person who constructed the septic tank and
soak away could be criminally liable if found
to have been negligent by leaving them
open.
Shittu said he ought to have exercised “due
care to ensure that his soak away and septic
tank do not constitute danger to persons
and property around”.
He said, “The relevant questions are: does
he hold a duty of care? Has he breached that
duty? The answer will be yes because he
ought to have put in place some
precautionary measures. Arising from that
breach, has some damage been caused to
particularly person(s)?
“But also since it happened twice, the issue
of contributory negligence could arise on
the part of the woman having been aware
that the place posed some sort danger.
Having fallen into the pit previously, she
should have taken steps to mitigate the
damage. But everything will depend on the
evidence of proof. But these are evidential
issues that an impartial arbiter will
consider.”