A heartbreaking tragedy has struck the Babarinsa community in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, after a three-year-old boy, Chibuike Uba, lost his life by falling into an uncovered soakaway pit.

The incident happened on Wednesday when Chibuike’s mother, Utoro, visited her aunt’s house in the area from their home in Epe. While preparing to return, she assumed her little son was playing safely with his aunt, who had stepped outside to take a phone call.

But moments later, panic set in when Chibuike could not be found. A frantic search around the house led to a chilling discovery: the boy’s slippers lay beside an open soakaway in a neighbouring compound, which was easily accessible because the property had no fence.

Utoro immediately raised an alarm, and neighbours rushed to help. They managed to pull Chibuike out of the pit and raced him to a nearby private clinic in Sapati, from where he was referred to the General Hospital in Akodo. Sadly, despite being placed on oxygen, doctors later confirmed the young boy had died.

Speaking through tears, Utoro blamed negligence for her son’s death, revealing that her aunt had warned the landlord multiple times about the open soakaway but nothing was done.

“My aunt kept telling the landlord to cover it, but he only kept promising. Even the plank my aunt once used to cover it was destroyed by floodwater. As I speak, that soakaway is still wide open,” she lamented.

The tragedy has thrown the entire neighbourhood into mourning, with many residents calling for authorities to enforce safety standards to prevent such avoidable losses in the future.