Ex-Minister, Dr Ibrahim Lame, Loses His Two Kids After They Locked Themselves In His Car

Tragedy struck on Tuesday afternoon at the Abuja home of former Police Affairs Minister Ibrahim Yakubu Lame as his two children suffocated to death in a locked car. Two-year-old Farida, who was Dr. Lame’s daughter, and her 1-year-old cousin Isah Abubakar Tahir died after being trapped for over an hour playing in one of the cars parked in the house.
The grieving fathers of the children, Dr. Lame and Abubakar Isah Tahir narrated to Daily Trust what happened. Farida’s father, who discovered the bodies, said it happened around 1.30 pm on Tuesday.

“The house driver came back around 1.30pm and when the children saw him while they were playing in the compound pleaded with him to take them out for a drive. The driver, who wanted to put them off, told them not to worry and should let him pray and come back, so while he left to pray, they decided to enter the car. Farida my daughter was two years old and Sabir (Isah’s alias) her cousin was one year old, so they got into the car.”  

He explained that unfortunately the car has ‘child lock mechanism,’ which was on, so there was no way they could open the car from the inside, because it locks automatically.

“Nobody noticed they were inside. Initially he told them he was going to pray but had no intention of coming back, and after his prayer he started sleeping,” Lame said

By the time he discovered them after more than one hour of their being in the car, they were already dead.

But I decided to rush them to the hospital,” Lame said. They were confirmed dead at a hospital in Gwarinpa."