A ministerial nominee and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mustain Abaniwonda, 56, who drowned in a Lagos lagoon on Monday, has been buried.
The men of Marine Police department of the Nigeria Police Force supported by divers finally recovered his body yesterday at the Bonny Camp end of the Lagos lagoon, Marina, and sent to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for autopsy. He had reportedly jumped into a Lagos lagoon on Monday at about 3pm while trying to ease himself.
A ministerial nominee and chieftain of the Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Al-Mustain Abaniwonda, who drowned in a Lagos lagoon on Monday under controversial circumstances.
Abaniwonda, the PDP candidate for Lagos East Senatorial District in April, was buried at the Victoria Court Cemetery, in accordance with Islamic rites.
The Chief Imam of the Victoria Garden City, Alhaaji Taofik Awwal, who performed the burial rites alongside the Chief Imam of Epe, Alhaji Sadala Abdulrahman, prayed Allah to grant him eternal rest.
NAN reports that also at the burial were PDP chieftains, including Chief Setonji Kosheodo and Mr Tunji Shelle, Lagos State PDP Chairman and Secretary respectively, as well as Sen. Wahab Dosunmu.
A former Commissioner for Health in the state, Mr Leke Pitan, was also at the burial.
His driver, simply identified as Wasiu, who was driving him at that time, reportedly persuaded him to be patient until they got to his office on Broad Street, but he allegedly refused.
Abaniwonda, an Epe native, was a Lagos East Senatorial candidate for the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before defecting to the PDP in 2003. In the April 9, 2011, National Assembly election, he lost again to the incumbent, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
He was the Founder and Managing Partner of the Alade Abaniwonda & Partners, an investment company.
The Lagos State chapter of the PDP had on Tuesday denied insinuations that Abaniwonda committed suicide.
Its Publicity Secretary, Mr Taofeek Gani, said that he slipped and fell into the lagoon while easing himself. Gani claimed that the politician would have been alive if help came in time.
“Saying that he committed suicide is a great wrong because he was wealthy, full of life and not frustrated in any way that could lead to suicide,” he said.
The body of the top politician, whose name on the list of 10 nominees sent to President Goodluck Jonathan for consideration as minister from Lagos State, was brought to the shore at about mid-day and was quickly taken to his residence at Victoria Garden City.
PDP stalwarts, party supporters and well wishers stormed the deceased’s residence to sympathise with the bereaved family, just as his driver, simply identified as
Wasiu, who was immediately arrested and later released by the police, revealed that all his entreaties and persuasions that his boss should wait until they got to his office, at the CSS Bookshop building in Broad Street, fell on deaf ears before he met his tragic end.
The driver reportedly said they were on their way back to the office from an outing and somewhere around Marina when Abaniwonda asked him to pull over for him to use the public toilet not too far away.
“That was all until I heard people shouting,” he said. “He was still struggling to get out when I got there but he later went down inside the water.”
Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Lagos chapter, and Senator Gbenga Ashafa (ACN), representing Lagos East, have both expressed shock and sadness over what they termed Abaniwonda ‘sudden death’.
When contacted on the development, the ACN publicity secretary, Mr. Joe Igbowe, on behalf of the party, said he was short of words to make any comment on the death, he but was quick to send a condolence message from the party to the family.
On his part, Ashafa, in an emotion-laden voice, said that he learnt of the tragic incident from the press and described the death as “very, very unfortunate and pathetic occurrence.”
He wondered why a promising and amiable man, with bright future, could have his life aborted in such a manner.
I’m still in shock and yet to believe that he is gone. He was my childhood friend in spite of the fact that he was in a different party. He was a fantastic man who had no bitterness, and a successful accountant with lucrative business investments.
“In as much as I cannot explain the reason for his death, I know my friend could not have killed himself – just like that; he couldn’t have committed suicide,” he added.