Mercy at Lake Gherio - conclusion

Photo credit: bay sports

Knowing that her sister and friends were struggling to stay alive in the waters seemed like an unimaginable horror movie. 

On the other side, Ezioma was still flapping her legs as best as she could; she came up a second time and screamed for help again.

As she was coming up the third time, someone held her leg and she began to go down. She realised that she was going to be a victim of a drowning man and with the strength she could gather she knocked the hand off and when she came up again, her hand grabbed something strong which turned out to be a rescue canoe. They traced her because she kept coming up.

Traditionally it is believed that before one finally gets drowned in the water the person must be thrown up three times before the water consumes its victim. The traditionalists believe that the water spirit at that time is asking the family to claim their own allowing time for the victim to be saved. 

When I told my sons this part of the story, they said to me that it sounded more like an upthrust in physics. The young generation find our traditional beliefs hard to swallow.

Ezioma was pulled into the rescue canoe and the two sisters Linda and Caroline Gideon were also rescued. Ronke Fagba was pulled out of the lake as well but when she was received by Nkiru, Huseina and Fati at the shores, she was already foaming in the mouth.

Another student, Toro who had been in another excursion canoe which made it back safely performed CPR on Ronke before all the victims were taken to the nearest local hospital. 

One last victim was yet to be found and when the divers did find her, she was covered by the canoe and was inches away from flowing into the Lake Chad where no diver would venture into. 

Ezioma said that Fadimatu Adamu never struggled like the rest of them. She had a heart condition and was scheduled to travel abroad that holiday for a heart surgery. She held on to the canoe while it sunk and went down without a fight. 

Ezioma said that the water below is quite different from the one that we all see above. She said the current under was torrential and flowed with so much speed yet the upper part appeared calm even as they made it safety. It was hard for her to comprehend what was going on underneath the innocent looking lake.  

Ezioma understood on that day that there was a god underneath and yet a bigger God above. In the end, the Bigger God won the the battle over her life. 

Ezioma was not the only one who was shown mercy at Lake Gherio; the two sisters, Linda and Caroline both survived. Nkiru said they later learnt the meaning of BID that the nurses used when they arrived the hospital with Ronke Fagba and Fadimatu Adamu. The two students who were Brought In Dead were both buried in a cemetery in Yola with the permission of their families. 

My sisters got another culture shock when they learnt that in some tribes, parents are not allowed to see the dead bodies of their children and those who die by drowning are buried near the water. 

After the incident, Ezioma got the nickname Gherio which reminds her till this day that she is a Miracle kept alive by God's Mercy at the Lake Gherio.