By Salisu Kabuga
The father of 15-year-old Isa Muhammad, who drowned in the Sterling Pond in Disina, along the Takur-site area of Dutse, Jigawa State, has recounted the final conversation he had with his son, revealing that the teenager’s last major wish was to travel to Lagos and join him in his butchery business.
The grieving father, Muhammad Audu, a 65-year-old butcher from Giwaran settlement in Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa State, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with PUNCH correspondent on Friday at the family house of the deceased in Bokoto Quarters, Dutse, during a condolence visit to the family on behalf of the management of PUNCH Newspapers Ltd., which was the first to report the drowning incident.
Isa, who was the eighth child of Audu, drowned on Tuesday after reportedly going to the pond with other children from his neighbourhood.
Recalled that On 5th, August, 2026, PUNCH reported that
a 15-year-old boy, Isah Muhammad, has drowned in a pond popularly known as Sterling Pond along Disina Road in Dutse, Jigawa State, raising fresh concerns over the dangers posed by water-filled ponds during the rainy season.
Recounting the tragedy, the father said he was not in Dutse when the incident occurred as he was in Lagos where he practises his butchery business.
Q- What is your name and where are you from?
He said, “My name is Muhammad Audu. I am about 65 years old and I am from Giwaran in Dutse Local Government Area, Jigawa State. I am a butcher.”
Q- How related are you to the late Isa Muhammad?
Muhammad Audu said Isa was his biological son.
“I am the biological father of the late Isa Muhammad, who recently drowned in a pond. He was my eighth child,” he said.
Q- How old was he?
According to the father, Isa was over 15 years old when he died.
Q- Could you recall the circumstances that led to Isa’s drowning in the pond?
Isa’s father, Audu said his boy had gone to the pond with other children to swim, but unfortunately drowned.
“The information given to me was that Isa went with some children to swim in the pond. Allah had destined that his life would end there. Allah had decreed that this was where his journey in this life would end,” he said.
Audu explained that the family did not live close to the pond and that, to his knowledge, Isa had never previously visited the place.
“This child who died had never gone to that pond before. The pond, popularly known as Sterling, is at Disina along the road to Takur-site area. It is quite far from our neighbourhood here in Bokoto,” he said.
Q- How did you get the news about your boy’s death?
Audu said he was in Lagos when the tragedy happened and first heard about it from someone he described as being like a subordinate to him who works with him there.
He said the man told him he had seen a report in PUNCH newspaper on Tuesday about the death of a boy who appeared to be his son.
“I am a resident of Lagos because that is where I do my business. While I was there, I first heard about Isa’s death from someone who is like a subordinate to me and who works with me in Lagos,” he said.
According to him, shortly after receiving the information, one of my daughters from home called and confirmed the devastating news.
“She called me and said, ‘Baba, Isa has died.’ I asked her how, and she told me that he had gone swimming with six other children at the pond and that he drowned while they were swimming,” Audu recounted.
He said he immediately accepted the incident as the will of God and began preparations to return to Dutse.
“I said, ‘Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un. May Allah forgive him and grant him eternal rest.’ I stopped whatever I was doing, prepared myself and started travelling home from Lagos. Before I arrived, the boy had already been buried according to Islamic rites,” he said.
Q- What was your immediate reaction when you heard the news?
Audu said although he was away from home when the incident occurred, relatives, friends, neighbours and members of the community immediately rallied around the family.
“There are many relatives and friends in the town who, even before I was informed about Isa’s death, had already heard about it. They acted quickly. My friends, neighbours, relatives and other members of the community did everything that was necessary. May Allah reward them,” he said.
He said members of the community also handled the recovery and burial arrangements.
“They collected the body from the General Hospital, Dutse, after the Fire Service and NSCDC officials had recovered him from the pond. My neighbours, friends and relatives organised everything and took responsibility for his burial,” Audu said.
He added that they conducted the funeral in accordance with Islamic teachings and escorted the remains to the Dutse cemetery near the family’s residence.
Q- When did you last see or speak with Isa before he drowned ?
Audu said he remained in regular contact with his children and other members of his family.
He disclosed that his final conversation with Isa took place on the Monday evening, a day before the teenager drowned.
“As I told you earlier, I live in Lagos and that was where I was when the incident happened. But on the eve of Isa’s death, we had a long conversation over the telephone. That was on Monday evening. He died the following day, Tuesday,” he said.
Audu said his last physical visit to Dutse was only a few weeks earlier, when he spent time with Isa.
“My last visit to Dutse was about a few weeks ago, when we were together. And almost every day, it is as if we are together because I speak with all the family members and my children at home almost every day,” he said.
Q- What was he doing before the incident happened?
Audu said Isa was combining his secondary school education with Islamic studies while also assisting his mother and younger siblings at home before his demise.
“The late Isa was attending secondary school and also an Islamiyya school. He also helped a lot with house chores, assisted his mother and took care of his younger siblings at home,” he said.
Q- Are there concerns about safety around the pond where the incident occurred?
The bereaved father expressed concern over reports that children had repeatedly drowned in the pond.
Audu said, the dangers associated with the pond were reportedly known to people living around the area.
“In truth, the story that children lose their lives in this pond as a result of swimming there is something that is known. From time to time, incidents like this occur,” he said.
He added that residents living close to the area had reportedly complained about the situation.
“People, particularly those living around the place, have been complaining about the pond for a long time because of the problems caused by children frequently going there to swim,” he said.
Q- Have there been similar drowning incidents in the area before?
Audu said he could not give an exhaustive account because his family does not live in the area where the pond is located.
“We are not residents of the neighbourhood where the pond is located, so I cannot give a long account about that. But I have heard that, from time to time, children who go there to swim lose their lives. It is something that is known,” he said.
Audu recalled hearing about another drowning at the location some years ago.
“A few years ago, I heard about a similar death at that place,” he added.
Q- Did the pond overflow because of the rainy season?
Late Isa’s father said water bodies generally become full during the rainy season but stated that he could not confirm whether the Sterling Pond had overflowed.
“Everybody knows that during the rainy season, whenever there is rainfall around a place, ponds and other water reservoirs become full and may overflow. But I cannot confirm whether the Disina pond was overflowing because we do not live in that neighbourhood,” he said.
Q- Was there nobody manning the ponds to ensure that unsuspecting members of the public did not pass or cross it?
Audu replied that he could not confirm whether there were such personnel.
However, he believed proper supervision could have helped prevent children from accessing the dangerous location.
“Honestly, I cannot give a confirmed statement about that. But one thing is worth noting: if there were people monitoring the place all the time, those monitoring it would not allow children to keep going there,” he said.
Q- Has the state government taken any action to avoid a recurrence of the ugly incident?
Answering the question, Audu said he could not confirm whether any such measure had been taken.
“No. Honestly, I cannot say that I know whether the state government has taken any action,” he said.
Q- How would you describe late Isa Muhammad? (Was he a good boy? Was he friendly with people? Was he always ready to run errands and help his parents at home and in the farm?)
Audu became emotional as he spoke highly of Isa’s character, saying his boy qualities were rare among children.
“I want to testify that, not just because the late Isa was my son, but finding a child like Isa in terms of character and behaviour is not common,” he said.
According to him, Isa was calm, intelligent and concerned about making his parents happy.
“Isa was an intelligent and calm boy who knew how to make his parents happy,” Audi said.
He added that the teenager was conscious of the family’s financial situation and was already thinking about becoming self-reliant.
“He was also a child who wanted to find ways to take care of himself because he knew that his parents, that is, us – were not wealthy,” he said.
Audu described Isa as a careful child who avoided conflict and was always willing to assist his mother and younger siblings.
“The Isa who died was very careful and avoided trouble. He helped his mother and his younger siblings a lot. Whenever we spoke on the telephone, he did not want to hear that I was unhappy with him,” he said.
The father added, “Isa was a kind boy. He was close to other children and loved his younger siblings.”
Q- What will you miss most about late Isa?
“I will miss his closeness and obedience”, Audu replied, saying that the closeness between them and the teenager’s assistance to the family is unmeasurable.
“What I will miss most is our closeness and the bond we had with him. I will also miss the way he helped us at home by assisting his mother and taking care of his younger siblings, as well as the great obedience he showed us as his parents,” he said.
Q- How is the family coping with his unexpected death?
The deceased Isa’s father disclosed that the family had accepted the tragedy as the will of God, stressing that they were Muslims who believed in divine destiny.
“As Muslims, there is nothing we can say except to accept the decree of our Lord, and we have accepted it wholeheartedly,” he said.
“Allah gave us Isa and Allah has taken what belonged to Him. We know that every living person will die one day and that everyone has a day appointed for death,” Audu added.
He said the family would continue praying for the deceased while asking God to grant them the strength to endure the loss.
“No matter how painful the loss of the late Isa is, there is nothing we can do except accept Allah’s decree and continue praying for him. May Allah forgive him and give us the strength to bear the loss. May Allah also grant us a good ending,” he said.
Q- What were his dreams and aspirations for the future?
Mr. Audu revealed that one of Isa’s greatest ambitions was to become self-reliant and eventually join me in Lagos to learn and practise the family trade.
“As I said earlier, Isa was a child who wanted to do whatever he could to become self-reliant,” he said.
According to the father, Isa repeatedly asked when he would take him to Lagos so that he could join him in his butchery business.
“His biggest wish was for me to take him to Lagos so that he could join me in my butchery business,” Audu said.
He said the subject came up during their final telephone conversation on Monday, just a day before Isa’s death.
“Even on Monday, before his death on Tuesday, our last conversation was about when I would come and take him to Lagos. I told him to be patient because I had promised him that, Insha Allah, one day I would come and take him with me,” he said.
That promise, Audu said, became one of the dreams Isa would never live to fulfil.
He further described his son as a young person who wanted to pursue education and struggle in life so that he could become useful to his family and society.
“Isa was a child who wanted to study and struggle in life so that he could help, especially those who were less privileged than him, as well as his relatives and family,” he said.
The father also said Isa had broader ambitions beyond personal success.
“Another dream he often told me about was that, when he grew up and became something in life, he wanted to find a way to help his town, Dutse, and Jigawa State as a whole. Unfortunately, Allah did not decree that he would fulfil that dream,” Audu said.
Q- Looking back, is there anything you wish had been done differently to prevent this tragedy?
The bereaved Isa’s father revealed that he would not blame anyone for his son’s death, insisting that, as Muslims, the family believed the time and circumstances of Isa’s death were ultimately determined by God.
“I have said it before and I will say it again: we are Muslims and we will not put the blame for Isa’s death on anyone. From the beginning, Allah had decreed that he would die in water. Nobody has the power to change that decree,” he said.
Audu, however, stressed that preventive measures could still be taken to protect other children from similar tragedies.
“Whatever measures are taken now should be for the future, because the past has already happened,” he said.
He urged parents and members of the public to pay greater attention to children, particularly when they are around potentially dangerous places.
“My appeal is to parents to watch their children very carefully and know everything they are doing. If an adult sees a child in the neighbourhood doing something dangerous or something that is not appropriate, please, we should warn them. We should not become tired of doing so,” Audu said.
He added, “We must take proper care of children and protect their lives from danger.”
Pix: Father of 15-year-old Jigawa drown boy, Muhammad Isa while interview by PUNCH at the family’s house in Bokoto quarters, Dutse.
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