How I lost 2 wives, six children to Suleja flood — 42-yr-old tea seller

The rainfall started around 11pm last Saturday and lasted till about 3:45am the following day, Sunday July 9th, 2017. The flood that submerged his house caught him and members of his household unawares.

Malam Sai’adu  Abubakar, a 42-year  old  Carpenter-cum-Mai Shayi {tea seller} is the bereaved widower, whose  two wives and six children perished in the tragedy which saw his 5-bedroom apartment submerged by a raging flood near River  Gusba  during a torrential rainfall  at  Ungwuwa  Masalachi in Chenchenair community, in Suleja Local Government of Niger State.

The distraught middle aged man who is yet to recover from the shock of losing his entire family members who were swept away by a raging flood along River Gusba  last Sunday,  had, during the recent Eid-El-Fitr celebration invited his senior wife , Malama Suweba Sai’adu, a mother of his five children  to join him in his new house  for the celebration of  the muslim festival with the children, together with his  junior wife, Malama Hajara Sai’adu  whom he said had recently been delivered of a baby girl.

Abubakar told our reporter  on Tuesday, in Suleja, that when he  was bringing all his family members under one roof for the Eid-El- Fitr celebration, it never occurred to him that 15 days after the celebration, he would lose not only his entire eight family members, but would also be rendered homeless and would be given a temporary shelter pending when he recovered fully from his loss.

He stated further that the incident happened overnight last Sunday during a heavy downpour   which led to a flood in their community, saying that  “the flood caught me unawares  in my house when I was sleeping with my family members.

“The flood led to the collapse of my house and it trapped some of  the people in the neghbourhood communities  and before  I could wake my family members who were fast asleep at the time, my house had already been submerged.

“When I realized that my 5-room apartment had been submerged, I started calling them that they should join me so that we could all  get out of the house together before it was too late. Then  under the heavy flood, we went to hide in one of the rooms but when we observed that the flood had also submerged the room  and our household property over floating, we went to hide in another room and in no time,  we were trapped in the house and there was no way we could escape and run outside the house because it was very dark and the flood came with full force”, he recalled  .

Sai’adu Abubakar however stated that when he and his wives felt they could all be consumed by the flood inside the house, he ordered that everyone including his children, should be chanting on top of their voice “{Nna Llilahi  Wainai Lahi Rajiun} meaning “from God we came and unto Him we shall return”.

“I  was with one of my  children and   my two wives. Also  one of my wives whose baby was  just few days old, held tightly to the child together with another child. She was not feeling too well because it was not quite two  weeks  that she put to bed. Then, the flood overpowered me and that was the last time I saw my family members together”.

He further explained that there was a well inside his compound, while he also kept his motorcycle near the well, stressing that at the peak of the crisis, that  the foundation of his house became weak and it collapsed like a pack of cards.

“Then the house collapsed and the motorcycle and the roof top fell on us. I was holding one of my children in my hand but I did not know which direction the flood had taken the rest of my family members. I frantically searched for them in the darkness but I could not find any of them.

“Then,  the  wave of raging flood, coupled with the flowing River Guska  carried me forcefully away from my house and out of the rubbles of the collapsed building.

But I was lucky to see a tree  standing in the middle of the river and  I held tightly  unto it but by that time  I was already very tired.

“There were also some stones not quite far from my house.  I climbed it and I made a distress call to my neighbours who I observed  had all vacated their houses out of fears  because of the raging flood and the overflowing river before I managed to swim out of the river and  they  had all left their homes before I swam into safety .

“By the time I came out there was a total blackout. When  I got to some of the houses  very close to mine , they had all vacated the houses  and there was nobody left in them.  I went into the community and I met some people there  and I narrated my harrowing experience to them.

“We went back to the riverside  at about 3:am that fateful Sunday  with torch but we could not trace any of my family members. We made a retreat and went for the first Muslim prayer  in the morning,” said  Saiadu Abubakar.

He pointed out that at day break last Sunday, he and his neighbours went back near where his collapsed house used to be and found a dead body which was identified as one of  his  children ,  adding that some few hours later,  the body of  the late mother  of the dead boy who happened to be his first wife  was also found  .

He said as at Tuesday, bodies of only four of his family members  had been discovered floating while the remaining four,  were yet to be seen

“After that, we also saw additional two dead bodies of my family members , making four. But up till now we have not seen the remaining four bodies,” he added. He identified his two wives as  Suwebat  and Hajara, while  the children include Hikma, Musa, Yusuf, Zainab,  Asmau  and Nana Khadijat .

Saiadu Abubakar  however disclosed that the eldest of the children was a secondary school girl while three of the children were in primary school as one of the remaining two was a pre-primary school girl while the last born of the family was a few days old baby.

“I am a carpenter by profession while I also sell tea by the road side to augment our living. In fact, it was not long  that I moved into the house with my family because it was a new house.

“I initially built two rooms after which I constructed the remaining three  rooms and I roofed the house. I have only spent six months inside  the house.  But I started building the house gradually for about three years  ago before its completion recently .  My first wife had five children while the second wife had a baby girl of about 14 days old and they had their separate rooms “, he concluded.