Muyibat Bisola Onilude, a Nigerian woman, was a vibrant resident of Agbeke Street, off Ofokaire Road in the Okota area of Lagos, until a faulty wooden electricity pole fell on her, and left her paralyzed.
According to The Nation, she said the pole fell on its own and landed on her while she was returning from work with the seven-month-old daughter she picked up from school.
She recalled that both she and her baby were pushed into a gutter that was flooded as a result of a downpour that occurred in the morning.
Muyibat said: “I worked on Lagos Island and was returning from work on the evening of July 20, 2018, and I decided to pick up my child from school.
“While I was walking on the road that led to my residence with my child, a wooden electricity pole suddenly fell on me, pushing me and my child into a big nearby gutter and pressing my head down in the gutter.
“That is the last thing I remember as I went into coma for four months at the hospital.
“When I got out of coma, I was told my child was safe. I was also told that it was a young man who alerted older residents, including some Hausa security men, who rescued me and my child from the gutter.
“I was taken to Isolo General Hospital and transferred to LUTH where I underwent series of surgeries.
“My neck was fractured and an implant had to be done to restore my broken neck.
“However, I have since become paralysed and I can no longer feed myself except I get help from my carers.
“My family members had got in touch with the nearby branch of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company around Okota-Isolo Road.
“Sadly, operatives of the electricity company returned to the scene at night to remove the fallen wooden pole to cover their tracks.
“Now doctors say about N32 million should be provided for another round of surgery to put me in shape again and aid my mobility.
“A hospital based in Chicago, United States of America (USA) is where the surgery would take place. We have been given a referral to the hospital. ”
A witness, Mallam Musa, explained that Muyibat, popularly called Mama Aishat, was in the gutter for a long time before she was rescued.
“The woman used to be hale and hearty until the incident occurred. I was there when the it all happened.
“A certain old man brought her out of the gutter with her baby and took her to Isolo General Hospital.
“The incident occurred around 6 pm, but it was not until around 7.40 pm that a man who was in his car noticed that the woman was lying face down inside the gutter with her child.
“I immediately joined the man and I was able to identify the woman to be Mama Aishat.
“We both carried her into the man’s vehicle and took her to Isolo General Hospital where she was rejected and transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba in Mushin area of Lagos.
“Her father also joined us in taking her to LUTH. She was in coma for several weeks. It took several hours before she was given a bed space at LUTH.
“From around 8 pm when we got there, she was not allocated a bed space until around midnight.
“It was just God who saved her life, because people thought she had died after the incident.”
Another witness identified simply as Ngozi said: “For hours, no one knew what was happening until a certain Hausa grocery seller noticed she was in the gutter with her daughter.
“It was an electric pole that smashed her and her baby into the gutter, and it is only God that has kept her alive.
“She is a good woman, although I am an Igbo and she is Yoruba.
“I lived in the area before I got married, but I still run my shop on the street.
“She went to pick her child up from school and was returning home when an electric pole fell on her shortly after a downpour on the fateful day.
“It was the people around that brought her out of the gutter, and since then, she has been paralysed and unable to walk or stand up.”
A petition written by Muyibat’s lawyer, Omobolaji Adejumo of Adedoyin Akanke Chamber, Lagos, urged the authorities of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) to pay N5 billion as damages for the disability suffered by Muyibat, arising from the company’s failure to fix its defective wooden pole that has cost the mother of two her health.
The petition dated August 22, 2024 and titled ‘CALLOUS NEGLIGENCE OF IKEDC RESULTING IN THE PERMANENT PHYSICAL DISABILITY OF MRS GIDADO MUYIBAT BISOLA NEE ONILUDE, FEMALE, 34 YEARS OLD,’ reads in part: “We act as a counsel to Mrs. Onilude Muyibat Bisola, hereinafter referred to as our client, and on whose brief and instruction we write to you.
“It is our brief that on the 20th day of July 2018, our Client was on her way back from work with her child in Okota axis, particularly at Agbeke Street via Ofokaire link Road where the faulty electricity wooden pole from which you had previously detached the electric cable due to complaint from your consumers as to its defectiveness and instability.
”Upon the said removal of the cable you failed to remove the defective and unstable pole or take measures to prevent or to adequately control the exposure to the risk of the pole falling and landing on innocent bystanders or commuters so as to prevent avoidable injury to members of the public.
“This negligence on your part led to the faulty wooden pole falling heavily on our client and thereby rendering her physically incapacitated.
“At all times material to this unfortunate and avoidable incident our client was backing her then seven months old child who through this unfortunate incident has been denied the warmth, love and affection of a mother to child as the mother is physically incapable of taking care of herself and the child
“Immediately after the incident, our client was taken to Isolo General Hospital from where she was referred to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) due to the severe nature of the injury sustained.
“She was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital[LUTH} at Idi Araba where she was in coma for months.
The petition noted that the electricity distribution company was informed about the incident by the relatives of the victim, but they turned deaf ears to Muyibat’s plight and abandoned her to her fate.
“The family members of our client visited your office while she was in coma and informed your office about the incident but you demonstrated an unparalleled corporate arrogance and nonchalance towards the wellbeing of our client.
“Instead, you chose to cover up your criminal negligence by surreptitiously removing the pole and its stub in the dead of the night.
“At Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba, Lagos, our client was diagnosed with body paralysis, burst fracture of vertebral body, lamina and pedicles with traumatic spondylolisthesis, with features of associated compressive myelopathy and mild traumatic brain injury.
“Our client was admitted and had supportive care over the ensuing eight (8) weeks while being worked up for rehabilitative surgery. At surgery, she had C4/C5 corpectomy and fusion with iliac crest graft and anterior cervical plates.
“Following her discharge a month afterward with no significant neurological or motor improvement, our client was placed on out-patient follow-up and due to seizures observed four (4) months post-discharge she was commenced on anti-epileptic medications by the neurologist.”
Explaining the present condition of Muyibat and the need to give her proper care, Adejumo noted that there was the need for special caregiving for the mother of two whose marriage had also broken down due to the incident.
He therefore demanded the sum of N5 billion as damages for the victim.
“Our client incurs a lot of expenses on treatment, surgery, medications and salary of caregivers.
“All these expenses are just a fraction of what she has expended so far since the incident.
“Presently, our client’s whole body is paralysed and in severe pain. She is unable to perform her day-to-day activities without assistance, and she is unable to feed, bathe or move any part of her body. All these are done by her retinue of caregivers.
“Our client urinates with the aid of a catheter, is incapable of engaging in sexual activity, and also suffers from a fractured neck, inability to sleep at night due to severe pain and her body temperature drops drastically at intervals.
“Basically, the incident which occurred due to the negligence of your company and its staff has destabilised our client’s life, deprived her of basic life enjoyment, and ability to carry out her work as an artist who paints and designs thereby losing her means of livelihood.
“She cannot make use of the normal public transit. She books online app driver (Uber), which is beyond her financial capacity.”
He added: “Due to this incident, our client’s marriage has broken down irretrievably and is on the extreme edge of collapse due to her inability to perform her conjugal duties and responsibilities in her marriage, thereby making our client physically, psychologically and emotionally traumatised due to the negligence of your company and its staff who failed to carry out their duty diligently.
“We aver that our client suffered unimaginable physical, emotional, psychological and financial damage as a result of the negligence of your company and its staff.
“Our client will require 24-hour round-the-clock nursing and medical care, mobility aids, a special diet, a specially adaptive home suitable for her condition, drugs and medication, regular checkups, emergency medical care etc.
“In consequence of the above, we demand that the sum of N5,000,000,000.00 (five billion naira) be paid to our client as damages for all the losses suffered as a result of your negligence.
“We demand that the said amount be paid promptly and timeously into the firm’s account as provided thus.
“We are open to exploring out-of-court settlement upon compliance with our demands in the way and manner agreed upon without room for any deviation.
“Should you fail, refuse or neglect to accede to our demand, we would with or without further recourse to you institute a legal action against your company.”
