Jimoh Kuton, a Nigerian man, has tragically died after being unable to exit a well in which he had entered to remove a faulty pumping machine. The incident occurred in the Ijotun area of Lagos, along Badagry Way.
According to the deceased’s family, Kuton was invited by a neighbour who is a policeman, identified simply as Isa, on Saturday morning to help him remove the pumping machine.
He drowned in the well after efforts made to remove him proved abortive.
Kuton’s daughter, Tope, who spoke with PUNCH Metro about the incident on Saturday, said the family and residents were called by the policeman that Kuton had died in the well.
The daughter said, “It happened around 7am. The man is a policeman with the Area K Division. His house is beside our own. He said his pumping machine fell inside the well, and he was looking for someone to remove it. Three persons had declined to do it for him before he called my dad. He sent his plumber to call my dad, and when he got there, he offered to try his best. He had entered the well and brought out the pumping machine and it was left for him to come out, but he was unable to.
“He (Isa) ran to our compound and cried out telling our family member that my dad had died inside the well. When we got there, we learnt that he made efforts to come out of the well but the water was too much and he drowned.
“The policeman (Isa) went to Ilogbo Police Station to report. Policemen came and experts were contracted to remove his body from the well. The policemen asked us what we wanted. We asked that he (Isa) should take care of the family’s responsibilities and pay the school fees of the children. He said he had heard but there is no written agreement to it. He refused to give any written agreement to that effect, saying he would only do what God puts in his capacity to do.”
Kuton’s wives, who also spoke about the incident, said it had become a terrible loss for the family knowing that their breadwinner was no more.
“It is a terrible thing for me, I don’t know who will take care of my children,” one of his wives, Funmi, said.
His second wife, Rafatu, said, “Isa is a policeman. After calling my husband to remove the pumping machine, he later called his brother to tell him that our husband had died in the well.”
A source privy to the incident lamented that the family would be cheated if they didn’t have anyone to demand justice for them.
“Our correspondent contacted Isa through a telephone number made available to him, but the receiver in a sharp response, said, “Bye-bye, it is a wrong number,” and immediately ended the call.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said, “What we are concerned about is the homicide that has happened; to investigate if it was a murder or an accident.
“If it’s a murder case being packaged as an accident, any suspect involved will be arrested. But if it’s truly an accident, then it is. If the family wants compensation, they can approach the court to seek that.”
