By Tunde Kolawole
There are so many pains in life. The pains of sicknesses. The pains of betrayal. The pains of death. Of all these pains; there is probably non that is as sorrowful, as the pains of losing a loved one.
But then; it’s only those who have had the misfortune of losing a child, that will probably appreciate the depth of the agonies that David Adeleke and Chioma; his wife, would be going through now.
And I recollect that when the illustrious Honourable Justice Chukwudi Oputa; of the Supreme Court of Nigeria then and who is now deceased, was interviewed by a newspaper, as regards his greatest pains or sorrow in life, he replied that it was the loss of one of children, a girl and that he has found it difficult to get over it.
That; infact, the girl’s room, has been permanently locked up since her demise and all her things left intact, the way she had placed them, with no one ever allowed to use the room. The Honourable Justice Oputa’s experience; is a graphic summary, of what parents go through when they lose a child. I have gone through and so know how it feels.
To this extent; all parents and indeed, all those who have blood flowing in their veins, should be concerned and have sympathy for Davido and Chioma, over the tragedy that had befallen them with the death of Ifeanyin. I personally feel for them and therefore joined millions of other Nigerians in expressing my sympathy and extending my condolences to Davido; Chioma and the Adeleke family, as a whole.
But be that as it may; I consider that, it will also be appropriate to do a critical appraisal of the Ifeanyin tragedy with view to forestall a reoccurrence as this sort of tragedies, have occurred, too many times in different homes and all over Nigeria. The musician; De Banji, has in the past, lost his own son in circumstances similar to that of the Adelekes. School children have also gone to the beach for picknic never to return. There have been mishaps of boats on our rivers and oceans sometimes due to overcrowding or overload, with all on board perishing.
As to Davido’s son, with due respect; I think, that was an accident waiting to happen or a tragedy, already fortold or that should have been envisaged in the first instance. For example, when I saw Davido post the picture of Ifeanyin he claimed to be teaching to swim, my heart sank. And the question I asked myself was : how could a father take a three year old son to an adult swimming pool, without a life jacket, and claim to be teaching him how to swim and brag that “this one go learn quickly” or “this one go dey easy to teach”. The scene was reminiscent of Michael Jackson dangling one of his babies through the window of a high rise hotel in which he had lodged. Jackson action back then was deprecated by the American people and their vociferous media.
There was also another post in which Davido was carrying Ifeanyin in his hands and looking straight into the boy’s face, which he captioned :”Automatic Millionaire”. This is simply preposterous. The Yoruba people have a saying that “when you have had a bountiful harvest; it’s advisable to go enjoy it, outside the prying eyes of envious people. It does not appear that Davido is conversant with this Yoruba aphorism or words of wisdom.
The Demas and Regina Nwoko had shown good example. When they uploaded the video of their son they were teaching to swim on the social media, the child was kitted with a life jacket and the parents were never far away from the boy. That is the way it should be. In Davido’s case, that was not the situation. All we saw was sheer youthful exhuberance.
As parents are always advised not to put a child in the front seat of a car and to always remember to strap them up wherever they may be at the back seat while driving, children learning to swim, should equally, always be kitted with a life jacket.
It’s not advisable to allow children and babies to begin their swimming lessons from an adult swimming pool. In fact, its better to have separate swimming pools for adults and çhildren. And this is what Davido and Chioma can afford to provide.
There has also been the revelation that a Pastor had predicted the demise of Ifeanyin but that the prediction was discountenaced. While I agree that there are so many fake Pastors out there hawking predictions for a living, there are still a lot around who have been blessed with the gift of seeing what the ordinary eyes or ordinary persons, would not see. As such, it’s not always advisable to ignore predictions when we are given one; especially when it pertains to or if it directly affects us.
As an example; the late Dr. Beko Ransom Kuti, once told me that his mother informed him that when Fela was born, three itinerant beggers, visited their home and told their parents that the boy that has been born here i.e. Fela, will be known all over the world. That initially; he will be very rich, but will later in life, become very poor. And all these things came to pass as Fela was known all over the world but later in life, became poor when the “so called unknown soldiers” raided Kalakuta Republic and burnt down everything in sight.
It’s advisable to always fence or provide barriers for swimming pools in residential and public places for safety purposes.
Just as rich people do provide security men and women to man the gates of their residential and non residential properties, wherever there are swimming pools; especially in residential areas, there should always be life guards to police the swimming pool area Twenty Four Seven.
Polygamy is sweet for those who have the means and can manage it. If you can manage it sexually; materially and dispense equal affections between the ladies and their children; then there is no harm in it. But if you cannot it’s not advisable to go into it no matter how tempting. Polygamy is frought with a lot hazards and dangers. As it is; Davido is into polygamy; ditto, Daddy Big Wiz. When in this sort of situation, it’s not advisable to indulge any of the wives and their children with love; affection and material comfort, at the expense of the others.
The news out there is that the Police promptly effected the arrests of most of Davido’s domestic staff. It’s also in the news that all the people that were arrested have all been released. That precisely; is the way, it should be. That a citizen is arrested does not mean he is guilty of the crime being investigated. Arrests could merely be to assist the Police to get to the root of the matter or for corroboration of available evidence. What is important is that the people arrested be treated in a very humane manner; no torture to make statement or provide evidence; no subjection to any form of indignity and there should be no prolonged remand howsoever.
The question that should now excite the reader is: is anyone culpable in the death of Ifeanyin? I think the answer is yes. The father ought not to have taken a three year old child to an adult swimming pool to teach him how to swim or any pool for that matter without a life jacket. Children are very excitable persons. Whatever they see you do or make them do, they will always want to replicate it or experiment with it when you are there or no longer there.
It smacks of negligence and utter recklessness for Davido not to have fenced or built some barriers around the swimming pool in his house and not deploying a life guard(s) to man it round the clock, to forstall not just children but also adult from falling into the pool and dying.
The Nanny paid to supritend over Ifeanyin has also been negligent and therefore culpable. Both Davido and the Nanny can therefore be prosecuted by the Police for culpable homicide or manslaughter. This appears to be a case of someone using his own hand or wealth to create problems for himself or precipitate other person’s death; notwithstanding that the dead is “Omo Baba Olowo” (the son of a billionaire).
May the Good Lord never allow this kind of tragedy to be visited on Davido and Chioma again. May there be peace and tranquility in their home thenceforth. Davido is a good man. A very compassionate man who has been lifting tens of Nigerians out of poverty. With , what has happened to him you sometimes wonder why bad things happen to very good people. May be bad things happen to good people to teach some lessons. Ifeanyin will be back. He will be back in a very bigger way.
Shalom.
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