Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The rain that fell on Lagos on Sunday, June 28, 2026, was not unusual. Ademola Oloyede, a 42-year-old tile artisan, had seen such downpours before. But this time, it was different. The flood that followed did not just soak the streets of the Okeleye, Charity area of Oshodi; it brought down a church fence, surged into a compound, and snatched away the life of a six-year-old girl with dreams of becoming a singer.
Oloyede, now homeless and grieving, spoke to The PUNCH about the devastating loss of his daughter, Asabi, whose bright future was cut short in a torrent of water that rose to chest level in a matter of hours. “I was not at home when the incident took place,” he recounted. The rain started around 3:30 p.m. and lasted for two hours. “It was not the first time we had witnessed such a downpour, so everybody thought it was the usual rainfall. Then it began to intensify, and the flood came.”
The floodwaters, carrying a heavy load of debris and dirt, breached the compound after collapsing the fence of the Christ Apostolic Church, Okeleye. “If the fence of the church had not collapsed, the water would not have had access to our compound,” Oloyede explained. “I think the fence was weakened by previous flooding, and the full force of the water caused it to collapse.”
His wife, son, baby, and Asabi were inside their room when the water surged. Oloyede was at his workshop, having returned twice that day to check on his family. “I was called to come back home quickly,” he said. “When I got home, the water in the compound was up to my chest.” A resident attempted a desperate rescue, pulling people out through the roof of a smaller house to escape the flood. “About four people would have died that day,” he added.
Asabi, his second child, was too small to struggle against the relentless current. “Yes, she drowned,” Oloyede said, his voice heavy with grief. “She was still too small to struggle. Even her elder brother was already gasping before he was rescued.” The six-year-old, who his wife described as "brilliant and full of life," never got the chance to fulfill her dream. “Two days before the incident, she came to me and said she wanted to be a singer,” Oloyede recalled. “I told her that when I came back that night, she should sing for me. I could not listen because my usual routine was that when I came back from work, I would take my bath and go to bed. She never got the chance to sing before she died.” He has since deleted all her pictures from his phone. “Whenever I see the pictures she took with her siblings, my heart aches,” he said. “She was not sick, and she was not missing, but she drowned.”
The flood left a trail of destruction, wiping out everything Oloyede owned. “Everything got spoilt. As I speak with you, all my property has been destroyed. I only have two sets of clothes with me now. I do not have a house to stay in anymore,” he said. He is currently staying with a friend, but his wife had to seek refuge with one of her own friends. “It is not convenient because it is like adding a burden to those people,” he lamented. The disaster also destroyed the businesses of other residents. “The people selling puff-puff in the compound were also affected. About 45 bags of flour got spoilt,” he said.
Despite holding an Ordinary National Diploma in Engineering, Oloyede has been reduced to relying on minor jobs that only cover his family's feeding. He is appealing for help. “It is a difficult situation for me. There is no money. The minor jobs I get are only enough to cater for our feeding. I do not even know where to get the money to rent a house. I do not know where to start,” he pleaded. “I need help, no matter how small.”
His plea is a stark reminder of the human cost of Lagos's recurring flooding, a crisis that the state government attributes to "bad habits" and illegal reclamation, but for one grieving father, it is the loss of a child's dream and the destruction of a family's home.
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