Birthday celebration turns to grief as celebrant’s friend dies in swimming pool

Sunday, March 17th was Faisal Sani’s birthday. Like any swag loving young city dweller, he planned to celebrate it in a grand style with friends and loved ones in a memorable fashion. However, while making these preparations little did he know that the day was going to dawn with tiding of grief as he lost […]

Sunday, March 17th was Faisal Sani’s birthday. Like any swag loving young city dweller, he planned to celebrate it in a grand style with friends and loved ones in a memorable fashion. However, while making these preparations little did he know that the day was going to dawn with tiding of grief as he lost one of his bosom friends, Ahmad Tijjani in a mysterious manner amidst the splendor of the celebration.

Tijjani, a 17-year-old ambitious teenage, was drowned in a swimming pool at Royal Tropicana Hotel located along Niger Street, in Kano metropolis where he went to celebrate his friend’s birthday. He was confirmed dead on arrival at the Murtala Mohammed Specialist hospital after initial attempts to resuscitate him by security guards at the hotel proved abortive.

Narrating how the incident occurred, Sani said he entered into the swimming pool area along with his friends but was later called out by some other friends who had come to the hotel to share the joy of his birthday anniversary but before he came back his attention was drawn to the unconscious body of his friend.

“When I came back after very few minutes he had been taken out of the pool and the guards were pressing his belly, expelling water through his mouth and nostrils. They did that for some time but later resolved to take him to the hospital but on arrival at the hospital he was confirmed dead” Sani said.

Sani said since after the incident he had been in a state of trauma reflecting the mystery surrounding the dead of his dear friend. He said the incident happened within a very short moment.

“Up till today I am yet to recover from the shock of his death, because since childhood we have been very close and always together. My concern is the way his death occurred, though everyone is destined to die in a different way but I wish I was there when he started drowning maybe I could have saved him but people were there, security guards were there also but no one spotted him until it got bad. Very unfortunate and sad! All I could say is May Allah have mercy on him and grant him Janatul firdaus!” Faisal prayed.

Malam Tijjani Shehu, the deceased’s father said the family received news of the death of the teenage with great shock, “but believing in destiny we had to take solace in the will of Allah as from him we came and to him shall we all return, Innallilahi wa inallilairajun!

Malam Shehu told our reporter that the deceased had finished his secondary school and registered for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exams (JAMB) before the sad event befalls him.

He said the family was contacted by the chief security officer of the Hotel notifying them of the tragedy.
Malam Shehu noted that before he got to the hospital his son had given up the ghost.

I was told that his friends invited him to a party at Royal Tropicana hotel’s swimming pool. There they said he removed his cloth to bath in the process nobody explained how it started but they took him out of the pool unconscious, they pressed his stomach to expel water and later decided to take him to hospital, when I came to the hospital I was told that he is no more” the deceased father narrated.

Malam Abdullahi Garba who is an uncle to late Tijjani expressed concern over the mystery surrounding the death of his nephew, blaming it on negligence on the part of the hotel’s management.

He said “It is shameful that a hotel of Royal Tropicana status does not have life-guards by its swimming pool monitoring the patrons of the facility. I can’t just believe any explanation given, Was he the only person swimming at that time, what about other people using the facility, how comes nobody took notice of him in distressful condition until it got bad” he queried.

He appealed to the management of the hotel to conduct a thorough investigation to unravel the real circumstances that led to the death of his nephew.

All attempts to contact the managing director of the hotel for explanation proved abortive as our reporter in company of other reporters was denied access by his secretary and personal assistant.

When contacted, the spokesman Kano police command, DSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa said he was not briefed about the tragedy.

He, however, said he would contact the DPO in charge of the area, stressing that failure to notify the police of such kind of tragedy is a punishable crime under the law.