Two yet-to-be-identified people managing the Elegushi Beach in Lagos have been arrested for possible culpability in the deaths of two female post graduate students of the University of Lagos: Adesola Ogunmefun and Funmi Odusina, who drowned after they got swept into the ocean by a strong current.
Family and friends had blamed the tragic incident on the beach management’s failure to install wave alert systems which should have prevented the deaths. Now, Punch reports that two managers of the popular beach have been arrested.
According to Punch,
“The (students) had graduated from the Covenant University and were on the verge of bagging their Master’s Degrees in International Law and Diplomacy from UNILAG.
While Ogunmefun was brought out dead, Bolu and Odusina were said to have been rushed to some private hospitals in the area which rejected them.
Odusina died on the way to the Lagos Island General Hospital, while Bolu survived.
Families and friends of the deceased had blamed the deaths on the alleged failure of the beach management to provide necessary safety devices like life guards, a wave alarm system, an ambulance and a medical unit at the facility and condemned the indifference of the hospitals that rejected the victims.
Odusina’s elder sister, Bukola, had also lamented that the incident shattered her sister’s dreams to become a philanthropist, an ambassador and a mechanised farmer, calling on the government to ensure that the beach had adequate safety devices.”
Confirming the arrests, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the identities of the managers would be revealed after the command had ascertained their culpability.
“The command has arrested two managers of the beach and they are being interrogated,” she said, adding, “We don’t want to release their names now so as not to infringe on their human rights. As soon as we ascertain their culpability, their names will be made public.”
“We hope to arrest more persons and we will visit the scene of the crime to know what transpired” she concluded.
