Photo: Communication mast crushes 52-yr-old Father of Twins

Sympathizers thronged Marina Car Park, Lagos Island, where a communication mast crashed on a father of twins, 52-year-old Adeolu Adeleke, yesterday killing him instantly.

The deceased, popularly known as Baba Ibeji (Father of twins), according to eye witnesses and his colleagues who sell telephone accessories met his untimely death when a telecommunication mast fell on him as he dashed across Marina Street to fetch a waterproof cover for his goods as it was about to rain.

“We had been hustling together from morning till evening to make a living at Davies Street and Marina. I travelled to my home town and while I was to be on my way back to Lagos, I told him and he prayed for my safety. But the same cannot be said of him. He is gone. My friend of over 15 years is dead.

Why? Why? Why him? So life can be over like this in just a twinkle of an eye?” a perplexed friend of the deceased, Peter Olorunishola, lamented. Continuing, Olorunishola said that the deceased was a perfect gentleman, industrious and loved to be with people irrespective of their tribe or creed.

“He was my very good friend, very hard working and peaceful. We were both selling chargers for phones and laptops and other goods. I was waiting for the rain to stop so that we could meet but before the rain even stopped, I was told he had been knocked down.

When I got here, I realised that he was crushed to death by a communication mast. We will never meet again here on earth. We will never share jokes again. We will never share business ideas again. Baba Ibeji is gone,” Olorunishola lamented.

Also speaking, Abdullahi Musa, another colleague of the deceased, wondered why the masts are being erected indiscriminately without regular assessment by the government.

“This particular mast was erected on top of a segment of the building. It collapsed about three years ago but nobody was killed. They re-erected it and today, it has wasted this man’s life.” The body of the deceased was taken away from the scene by the Nigeria Police at about 4.45 p.m. in a Volkswagen bus with registration number EQ 355 LND. The killer mast is situated within UACN property at Marina, Lagos Island. All efforts to ascertain the owners of the mast was unsuccessful as UACN personnel refused to speak.