A two-year-old boy, Godwin Kumfa, on Monday drowned in the popular Meme River near his home in the Phase 2 Area of Lokoja local government area of Kogi State.
A source close to the family said the incident occurred at 7:30 a.m. behind the Navy Quarters, Phase 2 Extension, in Lokoja.
The father of the deceased, Mamtip Kumfa, told journalists that he received a distress call from a neighbour at 7:30 a.m. that the boy was missing.
Kumfa, a security guard at a private school, said he returned home to find his wife searching frantically at the river side.
He said his wife had left Godwin sitting by the river while she went to collect sand and returned to find him missing.
“Godwin was left alone by the river while she gathered sand,” Kumfa said, his voice filled with grief.
“Later, we found one of his shoes near Arigbede, about 15km downstream. I’m lost. Godwin is my only son,” he added.
One of their family friends, Mr Seun Babalola, said they trailed the river path, but could only find the boy’s shoe downstream.
He revealed that a similar tragedy had happened at the same river two years ago, involving another young boy.
“Two years ago, a seven-year-old named Goodluck Friday also drowned here. It’s painful.
“We don’t know if it’s natural or something else. Only God knows,” he said.
The boy’s mother, Mrs Lovina Kumfa, cried uncontrollably, pleading for help and divine intervention.
“I left him just for a while. When I came back, he was gone. Please God, help me find my child,” she sobbed.
The incident has thrown the community into shock and grief as family, friends, and neighbours offered condolences to the grieving parents.
Efforts to recover the body of the drowned infant were still ongoing by search parties at the time of filing this report.
