The Nigeria Police Force has arrested the husband of Toluige Olokoobi Babalola, the mother of Oreofeoluwa Lawal-Babalola, the boy in the 2020 viral video, christened: “Mummy Be Calming Down.”
This was confirmed by the spokesman, Edo State Police Command, Chidi Nwabuzor, in a chat with BBC Pidgin.
Nwabuzor, who spoke on Thursday, said her husband, Lawal Babalola, who reported the matter to the police, has been arrested and detained for questioning.
He said Toluige’s husband told the police he returned from the market to find his wife hanging with rope on her neck.
Babalola said their last child, who is one, was in the same place Toluige committed the act.
Recall that the family of Lawal-Babalola became popular following the video on social media.
The video was made more popular when the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, used its tagline.
Governor Sanwo-Olu weaved his Eid-el-Kabir message for the year around the theme of Lawal-Babalola’s plea to his mum who was about beating him for an offence: “Be calming down.”
According to an X user: Samuel @sammydo214, who released the news of the death of Toluige, she allegedly killed herself in Benin, the Edo State capital, leaving behind her husband and three children, including Lawal-Babalola.
Samuel tweeted: “The woman featured in the viral ‘Mummy Calm down’ video has sadly taken her own life here in Benin.
“She chose to suffer in silence, leaving behind three children for her husband, including the well-known ‘Mummy Calm down’ boy.
It will be recalled that Sanwo-Olu had after his usage of the tagline of the video hosted the Lawal-Babalolas.
The hosting took place after the relaxation of the curfew that followed the spread of COVID-19 in August 2020.
The Governor met with the then four-year-old boy alongside his family at his office on August 8, 2020.
In his then Twitter message that was used as his Eid-el-Kabir message, Sanwo-Olu wrote: “I saw a video of a charming young boy online asking his mom to ‘calm down’ as she was set to punish him for a misdemeanour. I was moved by his sobriety, which reflected in his promise of ‘last chance’, when confronted with the fact that he is a regular offender.
“The exchange was indeed funny, but it depicted the efforts parents put in moulding children into responsible adults. I want to assume that his mom indeed calmed down because the appeal was moving enough to make anyone change their mind.
“Interestingly, the video inspired this special message to the good people of Lagos State because of the deeper meaning it conveys.
“Fellow Lagosians, we need to ‘calm down’ as we enjoy the coming holiday and festivity.
“It is a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim’s heart of sacrifice and faith in Allah. We need to emulate and demonstrate his sense of self- restraint at this time the world is combating the scourge of #COVID19.
“We need to be moderate in our celebration and observe prescribed protocols towards defeating the deadly coronavirus. The world needs the responsibility and commitment of its people to oust coronavirus.
“I urge every Lagosian to ‘calm down’ and not get carried away. Like the rest of the world, we are still in the middle of a pandemic and need to remain extremely careful to keep the gains of the sacrifices we have all made in the past months.
“Let’s calm down!
“As an aside, I would like to meet the young boy since we both now have exclusive rights to the phrasal verb ‘calm down.’”
