A 12-year-old girl accidentally killed herself at the weekend in Ilorin, Kwara State, while playing with a dane gun belonging to her grandfather who died seven years ago. The incident, which occurred at Alangua area of Tanke, caused commotion as the residents said the gun had not been used since the said grandfather, identified as Baba Ria, died.
The man was said to have been a devotee of Ogun, the god of iron. But, no one had been using the shrine since he died. Witnesses said the incident occurred on Saturday when the girl, identified simply as Ganiyat, was playing with the gun in the midst of her siblings.
A source said: “Ganiyat’s mother came to pay a visit and this happened after her departure. The kids live here with their grandmother but early this morning Ganiyat, who was playing with her peers, suddenly asked others to go away while she ran into the abandoned Ogun shrine in a room belonging to Baba Ria, a hunter and worshiper of Ogun. “The gun has been in the shrine since the man died seven years ago. No one knows what was happening, until a deafening roar from a gun alerted everyone around 11.35am.
“We ran out only to see Ganiyat in her pool of blood with her eyes bulging out. Our neighbours rushed her to a nearby Group Medical Centre, Tanke, where she was confirmed dead.” When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Ajayi Okasanmi, said investigation was still on going. It was gathered that the police had seized the gun and arrested some men in the compound with a view to finding out why they had kept the gun for long after the owner had died.
