The father of the three siblings including 11-year-old twins who were found dead close to a small river at a farm near the Owena Army Barracks in Akure, Ondo State has dismissed the theory that his children drowned, saying the circumstances surrounding their death pointed to a possible foul play.
The bereaved father Samuel Jonah said what he saw when the bodies of his children were found increased his suspicions.
The victims were identified as 11-year-old twins Joshua Jonah and Jacob Jonah, and their five-year-old sister Blessing Jonah.
Jonah said he was especially disturbed because, in his opinion, the bodies were not wet enough and there was no water in the stomachs.
He also said he saw blood flowing from the ears of the children, and from the body of his youngest daughter.
He said: “When I found them I saw blood coming from their ears. I also saw blood coming from my youngest daughter’s body. “I’ve never seen someone bleed like that when they die in water,” he said.
“They were not very wet, and they had no water in their bellies. I don’t believe they died by drowning. Something must have happened to them.
“I suppose it could have been bandits, or someone else involved.
Jonah, however, said he had no direct evidence linking any one person to the deaths and stressed that his suspicions were based on the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the bodies.
“I haven’t got the evidence to say this person killed my children. “But the way I saw their bodies and what I noticed made me feel that something was wrong,” he said.
The father said the children had gone with him and their mother to the farm and he later left the area to attend to other matters.
He said that he and his wife then left the farm leaving the children to play around the area and come home by 6 p.m. “When I came back I told them that their mother and I were going home and they could play around but they should come home at 6 p.m. Later their mother and I went off somewhere.
“We came home at 6 p.m. but I didn’t see my children. I waited, thinking they would be back soon.”
I began to think something was wrong. “I jumped on my motorcycle and ran to the farm,” he recalled.
He told police he reported the children’s disappearance to the Military Police at the barracks and assisted in the search.
The search ended when the bodies of the children were found, Jonah said. A soldier called him while he was praying and asked him to come back to the barracks, he said.
“We searched everyplace for them,” he added. We checked our church and we called our pastor because we were hoping maybe they had gone there,” the woman said.
“I ran from the prayer ground to the barracks and met the soldiers. I have a small stream near my farm. They kept me back a little when I arrived.
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“Army officers came to me and asked me if I had any problem with anybody. I said, “I don’t have a problem with anybody.
‘Then an officer told him his kids died in the water.
I asked them how could my three children have died in the water at the same time
When I arrived they had covered themselves with leaves. I stripped the leaves by hand. I was sorely grieved, for they were my only children.
The discovery had devastated him and left him determined to know what happened to his children, Jonah said.
“Those are my only kids. “I can’t just accept that they went into the water and all died at once without knowing exactly what happened,” he said.
He urged the government and security agencies to conduct a thorough investigation including the actual cause of death.
“I want the government and security agencies to properly investigate this matter. I want to know what killed my children. Let them tell us how, if they drowned. If somebody did this to them, we should find that person,” Jonah said.
