Elizabeth Umoru, a heartbroken mother of three, has recounted the painful moment her nine-year-old daughter, Omonegbo Umoru, was swept away by floodwaters after falling into an open drainage in Minna, Niger State.
Speaking to Arewa PUNCH, Elizabeth revealed that the tragic incident occurred last Tuesday afternoon when she sent Omonegbo to buy rice from Tunga Market, located about two kilometres from their home.
Omonegbo was accompanied by her elder brother, 11, as they stepped out with an umbrella amid light rain.
According to the boy, while they were returning from the market, the downpour intensified, causing severe flooding in the area.
As they approached one of the open drainages — part of an ongoing construction project dating back to the Babangida military regime — Omonegbo lost her footing and slipped.
“Her slippers and the nylon bag she was carrying dropped into the water.
Her brother picked them up, but she had already fallen into the drainage,” Elizabeth said tearfully. “He called out for help, but no one could do anything.
The water was too strong, and they could only watch as she was swept away.”
The overwhelmed brother ran home to alert their parents. Despite desperate efforts by neighbours to rescue the girl, the current proved too powerful.
Hours later, her lifeless body was found in another part of town, with visible head injuries.
“She was my only daughter,” Elizabeth lamented. “She was her father’s favourite—like a second wife to him. They did everything together.”
A family member told Arewa PUNCH that the rain had seemed mild when the children left home, but quickly turned into a torrential downpour, flooding roads and filling drainages to dangerous levels. “Even vehicles had to stop moving,” she added.
Since the tragedy, the Umoru household has remained in mourning, with friends and neighbours visiting to console the grieving family. Elizabeth revealed that her husband, overwhelmed by sorrow, has been unable to speak. “He’s not really asleep. He just lies there. He can’t take it,” she said.
When contacted, the spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Hussaine Ibrahim, said the agency had not been informed but expressed deep concern.
“We are not aware of this disaster yet, but our team will visit the family in Tunga to gather full details,” he stated.