My daughter killed by Oluremi Tinubu’s convoy, not hit-and-run driver – Victim’s father

A mourning father has insisted that his nine-year-old daughter, Saratul Lawal, was killed by a vehicle in the convoy of Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

This is contrary to Nigeria Police’s claim that the ugly incident which took place in Akure, Ondo State, was caused by an unknown hit-and-run driver.

In an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters, monitored by Diaspora Digital Media (DDM), the father lamented, saying he is deeply pained and sorrowed by the development.

“Yesterday, I was on the road,” he began, voice heavy with sorrow. “I stood by the road and saw them when they were going to the airport to carry the President’s wife. I saw the convoy when they were coming back too. But when the incident happened, I was not at that particular spot.”

According to him, he was informed by eyewitnesses, mostly members of the Yoruba community, that a vehicle from the First Lady’s convoy crushed his daughter, Saratul.

“It did not happen in my presence. It was people who saw it that came to call me, saying one of my daughters had been killed on the road. By the time I rushed there, they had already taken her to the hospital.”

But despite the pain, the father said he could not confront the authorities or accuse the First Lady’s convoy directly.

“People were telling me to go to the government house to tell them their convoy killed my daughter. I said I can’t do that. What I did not see with my own eyes, I can’t say it was them or not. But many people, the Yoruba people, said they saw it — that it was the convoy.”

The father revealed his daughter’s name was Saratul, a pupil of an Islamic school in Shasha, Akure. Although early reports put her age at seven, the father clarified to SaharaReporters that she was nine.

“Her name was Saratul. She was nine years old,” he said.

He added: “Me, I fear God. All of us will die one day. So I won’t lie. It’s the people around the police station those opposite the station, that saw how the vehicle killed her.”

DDM had earlier reported that a Hilux in Mrs Tinubu’s convoy hit the young girl while the convoy was moving from the Akure airport to the event venue.

The First Lady was in Akure to launch the South-West leg of the “Renewed Hope Initiative,” aimed at distributing professional kits to nurses and midwives.

The tragic incident occurred around Oba Ile, before the central mosque.

Saratul, who was a pupil at Islamiyar Arabic School, was immediately rushed to the Oba Ile Primary Healthcare Centre, but she did not survive.

“She was handed over to her family for burial in line with Islamic rites,” a source confirmed.

Reacting, the Ondo State Police Command claimed that no vehicle in the convoy of the wife of the First Lady was not responsible for the killing of Saratu Lawal.

The police spokesperson claimed in his statement that eyewitness accounts and preliminary investigations conducted by the Command showed that the incident was caused by a hit-and-run driver operating an unregistered white Lexus vehicle, not by any vehicle belonging to or associated with the First Lady’s convoy.

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