24-year-old Barakat was among those killed by a tanker which suffered a brake failure and overran traders and others at Bode Market in the Molete area of Ibadan, Oyo State on Sunday.
The deceased, who would have turned 25 on August 15 was described as hardworking and an enterprising young lady who was always ready to help her mother and family members.
According to PUNCH, the 24-year-old lady was said to have studied Mass Communication at The Polytechnic, Ibadan. After completing the National Diploma programme, she enrolled in a fashion institute and completed the programme with a low-key graduation on May 24. She was said to have applied for a Higher National Diploma before her death.
Speaking with The PUNCH, the bereaved mother said her daughter knew she was going to die but hid it from her.
She said, “Barakat knew she was going and that was why she told a young child that usually visited her that she would travel. But she had no intention to travel anywhere except this journey of no return on Sunday.
“She was such a pleasant and hard working girl. The traditionalists at Bode Market told us that we should not open the market for seven days because they foresaw a strange happening and I complied. Barakat told me that she would go to the market to help me on that day and that I should stay at home.
“I was told she got to the market and was paying the motorcyclist who took her there when the truck hit her and the motorcyclist. Both of them died.”
Barakat’s brother, Adegoke Fajaye, said he was told that his sister saw the truck late and ran but she was electrocuted by the electric cable which dropped immediately the tanker hit the electric pole before veering inside the market. He said Barakat was caught in the web of the cables and was crushed by the tanker.
He said, “She just got to the market and was paying the okada rider who took her there when she looked back and saw the truck which had lost control. She was said to have been caught in the web of electric cables that fell after the tanker hit an electric pole before crushing everybody and everything on its path into the market.”
The brother said the family retrieved the corpse and buried her immediately according to Islamic rites.
Asked if the owner of the tanker had reached out to the family, he replied that no one had got in touch with the family.
“We have left everything to God. We believe he counted us to be among the families affected by the tragedy. We cannot query God,” he added.