Michael and Susan Odulaja lived together for years in the Yaba area of Lagos State. Their union became official in 2005, but none of them imagined while making vows that death would snatch Susan on February 24, 2024.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had announced its decision to sell 25kg bags of rice for N10,000, an over 50 percent slash on the market price of the product, and this caught Susan’s attention.

Her family of seven was used to buying rice in cup measurement portions, and after calculating the difference, she knew it was a bargain, so she called Michael.

“I am going to buy rice at the customs office,” she told her husband over the phone. The call was the last time he heard his wife’s voice.

That morning, he had taken his borrowed commercial tricycle to work in the Mushin area of the state while she set up her grinding machine to grind pepper commercially. That was how they fended for their five children.

Susan died in a stampede that occurred when a crowd attempted to forcefully gain access to where the rice was being sold. Michael would find her lifeless body in the mortuary of the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba, a day later.

On Thursday, Michael spoke with FIJ about the events that led to his wife’s demise and what the government’s stance was.

FINDING SUSAN

When FIJ met Michael and Austin, his first son, the pair had vibrance on their faces. The man would smile occasionally during the conversation, and Austin would lean in to hear his father’s thoughts.

“We buried her a day after she died. The children cried that day, but no one has cried ever since,” Michael told this reporter. “I have twin children who are 8 years old. They don’t ask me about their mother, but you know children will one day ask. That’s how children are.”

Michael said the community loved his wife and had been supporting him and his children since the incident.

Recalling the fateful day, Michael said he was against his wife’s decision to go but she took the decision because she always put the family first.

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“On that day, I went to work, my wife called me, and I told her not to go,” Michael told FIJ. “What she did was for the benefit of the family, so I cannot blame her for it.

“Later in the evening, at about 7:30 pm, Austin called me to say he was looking for his mother. I called her family in Ikorodu, and they had not seen her. I knew something was wrong because, as I knew my wife would not sleep outside. I went with a search party to check hospitals, but we did not find her.

“By morning, we found her in IDH. There, we were told six females and one male were brought in dead. It was there that I saw my wife. We filed the paperwork and took her for burial.”

SHE WAS THE BREADWINNER — MICHAEL

Michael told FIJ that after the incident, officials from the NCS visited him to ask about the family. He also said some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) also visited him and promised to help the family but he never heard from them after those visits.

“I currently use my friend’s tricycle to work, since he travelled,” Michael said. “When he is around, he works in the morning, and I work with it in the evening. My wife was the breadwinner, but I am looking for money to buy my own tricycle. She used to buy many things in the house.

“Relatives have been contributing and coming to our aid. The church has also been helpful, and we are trying to take care of ourselves.

“When I go out these days, I earn and pay a N2,500 contribution fee on behalf of the owner of the tricycle, then I pay dues and settle boys on the road. If I am able to return with N2,000, I thank God.”

Michael said he was looking for money to set himself up and buy his own tricycle. He said he was hopeful the NCS and APC visits would not end up fruitless.

When FIJ called Abdullahi Maiwada, spokesman of the NCS, he said the customs office was preparing packages for all affected families and would communicate them soon.