From Petrus Obi, Enugu

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Their parents had brought them home to acclimatize and probably run away from raising them up in South Africa considered by many to have high level of crime and life style not too good for growing up children.
But as they returned to their father land, they fell victim of lack of maintenance culture, which has ebbed because of economic hardship in most private and public facilities in the country.
Indeed, this is not the best of times for the Ozumbas from Anambra State as their two daughters Onyinyechi Ozumba, 5 and Ebubechi Ozumba, 8 died untimely on July 11 as they went to play and recreate with other children at Oakland Park, Enugu State.
The two sisters were said to have gone on a ride of the Tea Cup with other children at Oakland, a popular park in the Coal City.
As the Ozumba family was not lucky as their two children died in the incident, the Mrs Chioma Godwin family has to praise God for sparing the lives of their own children.
Daily Sun reliably gathered that the Godwins were in a separate Tea Cup and had remained calm when danger struck while the Ozumba sisters may have reportedly attempted to jump out in fear.
However, the cause of the accident is yet to be determined and the Chief Executive Officer of the Oakland Park, Sir Odega Jideonwu, told a government team set up by government to investigate the cause of the tragedy that the accident occurred while the children were taking a Tea Cup ride on one of the facilities in the park.
“As a result we had two casualties and four other children that sustained injury. Right now we cannot say what caused the accident, as we are still trying to unravel the cause.
“We have been on for about four years and we had to undergo a lot of training and certification to have that park. We have a trained first aid expert and he was there at hand, but the injury was such that we had to immediately evacuate the children to the hospital and that was done.
“I know what it takes to be a father and I know what it means to lose a child. It’s an extremely painful thing; I have been very disturbed, the entire management and staff of Oakland have been very disturbed. My family down to my children, these are children of about the same age, they are disturbed because it gets back to them. They were once in the same school with these children, so it’s been a very tough time,” Jideonwu said.
While the bodies of two dead sisters whose parents are still being expected from South Africa have been deposited in the morgue, Oriental News gathered that the five others, including the operator of the Tea Cup Ride are currently hospitalized at the Niger Foundation Hospital, Enugu.
The two sisters who lived with their parents in South Africa were reported to have been brought to Nigeria about a year ago to get acclimatized with the environment while the parents stayed back in South Africa.
However, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State who was shocked by the incident has set up a committee headed by the Commissioner for Enugu Capital Development Authority, Hon. Chidi Aroh, to look into the remote and immediate causes of the accident and make recommendations to forestall future recurrence.
The committee has as members Hon. Peace Nnaji, commissioner for Gender and Social Development; Engr. Greg Nnaji, commissioner for Science and Technology, as well as Barr. Smart Chika Ogbe, commissioner for Tourism .
The committee, which swung into action as soon as it was set up, shut down the Oakland Park to save children from further danger.
It also paid an inspection visit to the park where the technical staff took time to explain to the members how the Tea Cup ride functioned.
They also visited the other five injured children, including the operator of the Tea Cup ride at the Niger Foundation Hospital Enugu, where they expressed happiness with their level of recovery.
The Chairman of the Committee, Aroh described the incident as unfortunate and expressed concern that it happened at one of the most resourceful recreational centres in Enugu, pointing out that it has to be sealed up considering the number of children that visit the park on a daily basis.
Aroh noted that his committee had to visit the facility and all those injured as he commiserated with the family that lost its children as directed by the governor.
“We have asked a few relevant questions and because of the concern of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi we are going to work on a daily basis to get to the root cause of the incident,” he said.
He assured the family members that Governor Ugwuanyi would stand by them in thoughts and prayers to ensure that every process was less traumatized.
A member of the affected family and caretaker of the deceased sisters, Rev. Canon Emeka Onyema expressed appreciation to the governor and people of Enugu State, saying that “they have been wonderful; it’s sad to lose two people, but as Christians we still believe that God is God and our faith is still strong.
“I am thrilled by the reactions of the people, especially the government of Enugu State. The wife of the governor was here to see us too on behalf of the governor.
“I also want to sincerely appreciate the owners of the park they have been wonderful; they have been cooperating; the kind of cooperation we have been getting from them cannot be quantified. They have been with us from the word go and it will end well.
“If God has allowed it then it has a purpose which will soon manifest.”
The wife of the Enugu governor, Mrs Monica Ugwuanyi who visited the injured at the hospital identified negligence and absence of maintenance culture as the major causes of the accident, describing the incident as both regrettable and avoidable.
She called for measures to ensure that there would never be a reoccurrence of such disaster in the state as she urged the parents of both the deceased and injured to be strong in their spirit while praying for the quick recovery of the injured ones and the peaceful repose of the souls of those that died.
The Managing Director of the hospital, Dr Ngwu in his response thanked the governor’s wife for her timely visit, assuring her that the victims were responding to treatment.
According to Mrs Chioma Godwin, mother of one of the injured victims, the incident occurred when the Coffee Cup Ride at the center malfunctioned.
She expressed gratitude to God for sparing the lives of her two children and to the governor’s wife for finding time to visit them in hospital.
As at the time of filing this report the committee was yet to come up with its findings just as the family of the deceased two sisters continues to await the return of their parents from South Africa.