by crossriverwatch admin
A street child has died in Calabar, the Cross River State capital after sustained vomiting on Monday 24th February 2014.
CrossRiverWatch gathered from his colleagues that the street child simply named Victor has passed on after he he started vomiting seriously in the early hours of Monday but could not get help from anyone including passers-by.
Another homeless child named Samuel Offiong Asuquo told our reporter that his late friend, “Victor yesterday (Sunday) evening say about 6-7pm, we were playing at Bogobiri Street Calabar beside the road when a taxi painted with Cross River color packed to drop a passenger, when the man opened the door unknowingly Victor was trying to run past then the car door hit him on the stomach”.
At night when they were sleeping, he said Victor was complaining of serious stomach pain and couldn’t sleep well but there was virtually nothing they could do because it was late in the night and besides they have no money or any facility that could offer any medical treatment for their friend.
Continuing he disclosed that “In the early hours of today he vomited seriously and then gave up the ghost”.
At about 6:06pm yesterday our reporter intercepted the street children at Mary Slessor by Zoo Garden carrying the corps of the deceased amidst a crowd of sympathizers to bury besides Zoo Garden where the drainage from Barracks road crosses,
Few minutes later, in the process of trying to dig a shallow grave to bury Victor, a policeman from the Criminal Investigation Department, CID whose name was given as Mr. Bako appeared and stopped them and called for help from his office.
Shortly afterward at about 6:38pm, a Hilux pickup van with registration no: PF3017CRS arrived the scene with 3 policemen led by Mr. Adolphous Begbu.
After several minutes of radio communication with his superiors, he directed the boys to carry the corps down to Hawkins cemetery Calabar South for burial.
As at the time our reporter left the scene around, 6:46pm the policemen were still keeping a watch over the street children to see their next line of action because from their reaction to the police directive, there were unwilling to take the corpse to Hawkins.
One of the boys was overhead expressing anger with the way the police decided to handle the matter, he questioned “Their van has a lot of space why will they want us to walk from here to the cemetery with this dead body?” Adding that “Besides who will pay for the grave?”
He also revealed that Victor is one of those children that ran away from the Destiny Child Center, DCC established by the state First Lady, Mrs. Obioma Imoke which is jointly funded by both private and government because of inhuman treatment at the center.
He further disclosed that they don’t know the address of the deceased adding that “This is not the first time we bury someone here, last year Cracker died and we buried him there”.
Cracker whose biological name is unknown according to the source died after falling into the big drainage.
A sympathiser, Nsang Odey, who spoke to CrossRiverWatch said: “If these children continue to grow up like this and see that common vomiting, the society cannot give them help, what will you expect them to become in the future?
“They will just conclude that this world is a wicked place and nothing can change that impression from their young minds. They will grow up wicked, mean and without empathy and tomorrow society will expect peace. This is very unfortunate. Those who are pretending that they don’t know this is a brewing menace should know that tomorrow they will not be able to sleep well in those their rich and protected homes if they allow this to fester.”
It will be recalled that CrossRiverWatch has repeatedly called the attention of Government and the general public to the increasing menace of homeless children who have roaming major streets in Calabar but nothing tangible has been done to address the situation.
follow us on twitter @crossriverwatch