A commercial bus driver, Oluwagbeminija
Rhodes drowned in the Ogun River in Abeokuta on Sunday while trying to
save his drowning son, Gbeminiyi.
The driver, sources said, was the pioneer chairman of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Shuttle Bus Association.
The tragedy occurred when the deceased took his bus for washing at the bank of the river in the Lafenwa end.
He was said to have been accompanied by his 8-year-old son.
It was said that Gbeminiyi, who was
playing at the river bank, missed his step and fell inside the river,
making his father to jump in to rescue him.
In the process, he drowned, while the son was later rescued by some people living near the river bank.
Gbeminiyi was rushed to the hospital where he regained consciousness.
However, his father’s floating corpse
surfaced at the Oriyanrin area, about three kilometres away from the
scene of the incident, on Monday night.
It was recovered by fishermen who were employed to search for the body.
The current chairman, MAPOLY Shuttle Bus
Association, Mr. Adedolapo Adekunle, said the corpse of Rhodes could
not be removed immediately because the river was full.
He said, “He wanted to rescue his child
and lost his life in the process. We consulted the fishermen and other
experts immediately, but they told us that the river was full and that
they had to wait for the body to float the third day or make an attempt
on Monday.
“On Monday, his body was discovered in Oriyanrin. We later paid for some rituals before his body was released.”
He described late Rhodes as a “complete gentleman, humble and honest who led our association for nine years.”
It was learnt that his remains had been
interred at his yet-to-be-completed house in Ikolaba community,
Olomoore, in the Abeokuta North Local Government Area of the state.
PUNCH
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