Questions, pain linger for family of dead teen
Still confused about what happened, the family of a young man who died after attending the Osheaga music festival is trying to focus on what needs to come next: a burial and funeral in Montreal, where he was born and raised.
Ottawa resident Collins Obiagboso was in Montreal last weekend to attend the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival on Île NotreDame. His body was pulled from the St. Lawrence River on Monday, days after his 18th birthday.
“It was so unexpected. No parent wants their child to have a sudden death,” Obiagboso’s mother, Georgina Mensa Boboe, 43, said through sobs Friday.
“You try to make it through life and do the best you can for your child,” she added, “and all of a sudden he’s been taken away because of a mistake ... or something.”
According to early information, Obiagboso felt overwhelmed by the crowd on Friday, Aug. 3 and left his friends during an evening set by rapper Nav. He didn’t have his phone or wallet on him. None of his friends saw him afterward.
Mariam Sammuel, a close family friend who let Obiagboso stay at her LaSalle apartment in the days leading to the festival, said she and Boboe are struggling to understand what could have happened.
They’ve spoken with Obiagboso’s friends who were at Osheaga, but the details aren’t adding up.
“We went looking for answers, but the story was different than what they’ve been saying,” Sammuel said, adding she feels Obiagboso, who couldn’t swim, was a “victim of circumstance.”
The family wonders how someone can disappear from an event as large as Osheaga, which draws 45,000 people a day, without anyone noticing. They ’re also questioning the festival’s security measures.
“They haven’t acknowledged anything or reached out to us,” Sammuel said. “It’s so painful.”
In a statement this week, Osheaga promoter Evenko said the “well-being and security of its festivalgoers” is its No. 1 priority and that its security plan is in “constant evolution.”
On Friday, the company said it’s saddened by the news but can’t comment on it due to an ongoing investigation.
“Our thoughts are with the entire family of this young man,” it said.
The Quebec coroner’s office is investigating Obiagboso’s death.
“We’ve cried and cried. The bank of tears in our body is drained,” Sammuel said. “We don’t have a dime in our pocket, but now we have to face reality: this boy needs to be buried.”
Boboe, a single mother, said she knows her son would have wanted to be buried in Montreal. He was born and raised in the city after Boboe arrived from Nigeria. He left only when she moved the family in search of better work opportunities — first to Calgary and, more recently, to Ottawa.
The family first thought of selling off Obiagboso’s belongings to pay for the funeral, but reconsidered after Sammuel’s son, Junior, convinced them to “swallow their pride” and try online fundraising.
Junior and Boboe’s employer have both started fundraisers through the GoFundMe website.
Chris Saracino, a spokesperson for Greenapple House Cleaning, where Boboe has worked for the last three years, said the company wanted to help. “She’s an extraordinarily hard-working lady and was very, very focused on her son.”
The two fundraisers together had raised about $10,000 as of Friday. A local funeral home also has offered to give the family a casket.
Boboe said she’s thankful for every single donation. She hopes her son can be remembered for the “loving and kind” person he was.
“Whenever he was around you, he warmed up the whole room,” she said. “He wasn’t a troublemaker. He was a smart and gentle person.”