Anger after 8-day-old’s death is linked to traffic caused by Lagos APC event

Nigerians have continued to vent their anger online after a man linked the death of his infant son to the recently held event of the ruling party in Lagos, the All Progressives Congress. 

The cause of death, according to the man’s Twitter posts a day after, was due to being unable to get to a hospital on Lagos Island to which the boy had been referred from a local government health centre because of the massive traffic congestion political occasion caused across the Agege-Ogba-Ikeja-Berger axis of Lagos State on Wednesday.

The stakeholders’ meeting held at the party’s headquarters in preparation for the local government election slated for July 22 on ACME Road, off Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi in Ikeja. Disrupting traffic around the location as stretching to places like Agege, Berger, Fagba, Maryland, the meeting left motorists and commuters stressed after spending between three and five hours in traffic while many were forced to trek long distances. Present at the event were party leaders including Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu among others.

The man, who changed his Twitter ID to Distraught DadNG, set off an agonizing session on social media on Thursday while announcing the incident likely to leave him scarred for life. Tweeting through @sauce231, the man said his infant baby boy died just a day after his naming ceremony. His major grouse was that the government never deemed it fit to make any prior announcement that some roads would be blocked. For him and many others, that left Lagos residents prone to whatever happened as a result of the traffic caused by the event.

“@AkinwunmiAmbode @APCNigeria Thanks to you guys today for the roads you blocked without prior notice. My eight-day-old baby boy died,” he began before going further: “My baby died in traffic on the way to the hospital, the day after his naming ceremony,” he began.

While making reference to his beloved but now departed son, he wrote: “I prayed for you this morning, kissed you and told you I would see you and your beautiful mum when I’m back from work.”

Unable to bear the trauma of having lost his son in clearly avoidable circumstances and yet summoning all the energy to make the world know, he tweeted: “Imagine your child dying in the presence of his mother and grandparents inside traffic.”

The tweets, directed at the Twitter handle of Governor Ambode and official handle of  LASG, have not been responded to online at the time of filing this report but that has not stopped Nigerians from hitting out at the state government and its agencies.

Gutted with the many pieces of information provided by the overwhelmingly sad father, @DirectorSolomon urged him to take it beyond making public posts about the matter. “You should sue not only for your child but for others in future,” he wrote.

TCA @XrisTion: “Please consider legal action against the state. This shouldn't be a "normal" incident where we just gloss over it and move on. A life is lost.”

Adding his voice to the tear-jerking matter, Engr. Paul Eod @ayodele_eod had this to say: “So sorry for the loss ..... we have a very poor government.”

In his contribution, Oladele Idowu Joseph @prodataologist simply went the way of cursing everyone that might have been involved one way or another. “Whoever involved in the death of that 8day old baby will dearly pay for it from generation to generation, this curse shall never cease to run,” he fired.

Also reacting, @iGordon_ wrote: “Really? What happened to common sense not to block roads with prior notice or providing alternate routes?”

Going further, the father said: “I was at the office; my wife, dad, mum, and three of my aunties were the ones doing the running around. From Oke Ira Ogba, they were referred to a children specialist hospital on the island but died in the traffic.”

However, a Twitter user, Desmond Jamiu who tweets through @Desmond_Epic, replied the father by alleging that he was just out to tarnish the image of the Lagos governor. “When you are wrongly advised by wrong People to tarnish the image of humane Gov. Ambode, you are doing urself NO GOOD,” he wrote.

In a direct response, Distraught DadNG shot back: “Tarnish image? I tweeted what hurts you think I’m trying to tarnish Gov. Ambode or I’m looking for his sympathy?”

When contacted, the spokesman for Lagos APC, Joe Igbokwe, said: “Is it true? Can it be true? If this is true, Lagos regrets it. Please accept our deepest sympathy.”