Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The last conversation between Ibrahim Mandella and his wife was ordinary. It was about dinner. Favour Mary had called her husband twice at about 10:45 p.m. on Sunday night, urging him to return home from the car wash in Adehun where he had stopped to wait out the heavy downpour. He assured her he would be home shortly. He sent N4,500 for dinner. Then he told the people around him that he could cross the flood. He was swept away under a narrow bridge.
Mandella, a 35-year-old native of Zacaba Local Government Area of Kebbi State, was returning home after working around Ijero when the flood took him. His brother, Dauda Daniel, recounted the final moments. "He told people around him that he could cross the flood," Dauda said. "He was swept away while attempting to cross under a narrow bridge". His remains were later found opposite the highway near the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries junction in Adehun. Favour woke up around 4 a.m. and discovered that her husband had not returned. She has two children. They had gone to bed expecting their father to walk through the door.
The tragedy did not end there. In a separate incident the same night, two commercial motorcyclists were reportedly swept away by flood at Elemi River in Ado-Ekiti. Eyewitnesses said the riders were attempting to cross the flooded bridge when the heavy current overpowered them. Locals tried to rescue them, but the force of the water and the darkness made it impossible. As of Monday morning, their bodies and their motorcycles had not been recovered. Their families were left in anguish, waiting for word that might never come.
The incidents occurred during a downpour that lasted several hours and triggered severe flooding across multiple parts of Ado-Ekiti. Flooding was reported around Ayemi Garage Bridge, adjacent to Midas Hotel along the Ekiti State University Road, with floodwater covering large sections of the area. Some civil servants were reportedly trapped in their offices as water levels rose rapidly. Areas affected included Ayemi Garage, Elemi, Ureje, Odo-Ado, Faglo, Poly Road and New Iyin Road. The Ekiti State Fire Service was involved in search efforts, but the recovery of the missing motorcyclists remained unsuccessful as of Monday.
The flooding has renewed concerns about the safety of motorists, pedestrians and commercial transport workers who navigate flooded roads and bridges during the rainy season. The Elemi River, in particular, has a history of overflowing its banks and endangering lives. Residents have repeatedly called on the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency and other authorities to address the perennial flooding of the river. They have also urged the government to find a lasting solution to the drainage and infrastructure failures that turn routine rainfall into lethal floods.
The Nigeria Meteorological Agency had predicted heavy rainfall across the country in recent days. But predictions and warnings do little to protect people who have no choice but to cross a flooded bridge at night. Mandella had a choice, and he made the wrong one. He thought he could cross. The water proved him wrong. His wife and children are left to mourn a man who sent money for dinner and never came home to eat it.
The two motorcyclists had no choice at all. They were working, trying to earn a living in a city where flooding has become a seasonal certainty. They are still missing. Their families are still waiting. And the Elemi River, which has claimed lives before and will likely claim them again, continues to flow, swollen and unforgiving, through the heart of Ado-Ekiti. For the families of the dead and the missing, the question is not whether the flood will come again. It is whether anyone in authority will do what is necessary to ensure that the next family does not have to wait for a body that will never be found.
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