His widow said: “Though, this is a very sober period for me because I can’t still believe that my husband is no more; yet, I commit the reporters of such falsehood to God. My husband had been diabetic for many years. But do we have to tell everyone that? That was our own family challenge and we bore it. He urinated a lot because he had no stamina to hold it. We were once issued ticket in the US because he could not hold himself and we packed in a wrong place.
“And why would he jump into the lagoon if I may ask you? He wasn’t owing anybody. He did not, and I repeat, borrow any money for the election. He did not fight anybody. He had no cause for such.
“Our marriage was an open relationship. I can tell you everything about my husband and he can do same for me.
“To us, it was nothing unusual that he urinated a lot. His driver was well aware of the situation too. So, if as the driver said, my husband had asked him to stop for him to urinate; it was a usual thing.
“So, as the driver told us.They were on their way from an official engagement in Apapa yesterday, Monday, when my husband in his usual manner told him to stop so he could pee. My husband got down apparently to look for where to urinate. He was said to have asked some boys around and they showed him the public toilet. We learnt that on getting to the toilets, they were locked and he couldn’t wait for the person with the key. Not knowing that the sides of the public toilets were slippery; he positioned himself to pee, but rather he slipped into the lagoon. And that’s the point at which the problem began.
“The driver said he was still waiting for him in the car when someone knocked on his car window and told him that the man he brought to the place had fallen into the water. He quickly ran out of the car towards the place.
“He said on getting there, he found his boss flapping the water while shouting “someone please help me, someone please help me”... Quickly, the driver jumped across a pile of ruined boats to the office of the Marine officers to alert them that my husband had fallen into the shallow side of the water on the other side. But instead of answering him, they started harassing him for jumping across the boat.
“The driver said when he got to the scene; the water only covered my husband to the waist. But by the time he was running helter-skelter looking for help, he had been lowered to the shoulders, then to the neck and then he could not see my husband’s head again.
“I had to order that the driver should be quickly released when I learnt that he had been locked up.
“There is no foul play in the unfortunate incident that happened to my husband. I believe he could have been rescued if the Marine Officers had responded to the cry immediately it happened. But like I said, it is the way God wanted things to go, if not, it wouldn’t have happened.
Mrs Abaniwonda said as Muslims they must accept God’s verdict no matter the circumstance.
Ms. Omoyosola Alade Abaniwonda, 27, who spoke on behalf of the children said: “My daddy had an incurable phobia for water. He never went near water and even used to scold us whenever he learnt that we went to the beach to swim. Instead of taking us to the beach, he could spend thousands of dollars on us to buy things to distract us from the waters. How could a man whose second daughter got married barely a month ago and who had already named his yet-to-be-born grandson Omobolaji commit suicide? Never! For what? He would never do such a thing! My father went out in good spirits on Monday.”
The late Abaniwonda’s son-in-law, Yomi, who said he was the first to be called by the driver said: “I was along Kingsway Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, when the driver called me that daddy had fallen inside the lagoon. But because my mum was in the car with me, I just said okay, Daddy’s calling me? Tell him I’ll be there now. So, I quickly dropped my mother in my office and sped to the scene.
“On getting here, I located the driver and he recounted the incident. Immediately, I walked into the office of the Marine officers and met an officer in uniform. I identified myself as the son of the person in the water and told him that my dad fell into the water a few minutes ago. He told me that there were no divers around.
“I told him that I could swim if I can get a life jacket or vest because at that time, we could not see his body on the surface of the water again. He told me that they had no life jacket. He then pointed me to private divers and rescuers. So, I went to meet the private rescuers and they told me that I should pay N150, 000. I told them to go ahead"
Culled from the Nation Newspaper
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