By Muhammed Danjuma Ogwu |
In Agyaragu, a quiet farming community in Obi LGA of Nasarawa State, five little girls died after being trapped in a parked, abandoned car—unseen, unheard, and unreachable—while their mothers searched and prayed.
Their lifeless bodies were discovered hours later, the joy of their homes replaced by unspeakable sorrow.
For 45-year-old Ifeoma Nnaji, the pain is too much to bear. She lost both her daughters—Nmesoma, 7, and Chidima, 3—within the same hour. “I gave them food. I told them to stay close. I never imagined I would be burying them the same day,” she whispered, sitting beside their small caskets.
The old car, left unused in the compound, had always seemed harmless. It had been there for years. That Sunday, it became a tomb.
Mrs. Nnaji’s life was already marked by grief. Her husband died just months ago. “He left quietly, in peace,” she said. “But this? This is agony. I screamed when I saw them. I collapsed. Now, I have no husband. No children. I am alone in this world.”
Like many in Agyaragu, she had gone about the day as usual. She washed, cooked, and allowed the girls to play with neighbors. But by early afternoon, panic set in. The children were nowhere to be found. “We searched everywhere—homes, bushes, behind shops. We even made a community announcement,” she said.
Only when a local medicine seller walked toward the abandoned car did the nightmare become reality. The girls had entered the vehicle, likely while playing, and suffocated.
Bridget Iormagh, a grandmother in her late 50s, raised 5-year-old Eunice Shapera as her own. “She called me ‘Mama.’ She loved to stay by my side. She feared the compound dogs, so she didn’t wander,” Mrs. Iormagh said, tears in her eyes. “But that day, she followed the others.”
Mrs. Iormagh had only stepped out briefly. “By the time I came back, she was gone. We searched. We hoped she was safe somewhere. But God had other plans.”
Her voice dropped as she recalled the moment the children were found. “They were cold. Still. Gone. All five of them.”
The tragedy has sent shockwaves through the community, which is still struggling to come to terms with it. The children—Eunice, Nmesoma, Chidima, Kamsi Onah, and Soma Onah—were all buried the same evening.
The Nasarawa State Government sent a delegation led by Deputy Governor Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, who called the incident “a devastating loss.” He offered prayers and pledged support.
Police have confirmed the incident and say a full investigation is underway. According to SP Ramhan Nansel, the children were found in a car belonging to Mr. Abu Agyeme and declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.
This is the third such incident in Nasarawa in just over a decade. Similar deaths were recorded in Lafia (2013) and Keffi (2019). In each case, children entered parked vehicles and suffocated.
Yet the weight of grief never grows lighter. “This is not something a mother heals from,” said Mrs. Nnaji, staring into the distance. “I see their slippers, their clothes, their toys. Everything is still here—except them.”
As the sun set on Agyaragu that Sunday, the sound of mourning filled the air. The laughter of five girls had been silenced forever. And their mothers, now carrying unbearable loss, are left only with memories—and graves.