The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fire

  • Scores feared dead in Arepo pipeline fire

    Scores feared dead in Arepo pipeline fire

    Scores were yesterday feared dead at an oil facility at Arepo, Ogun State.

    They died in the System 2B pipeline fire that erupted from a clash of two rival gangs, whose members stormed the facility to scoop product from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    It was gathered that an explosion occurred during a gun duel between the rival gangs, who regularly storm the area in boats laden with plastic containers to steal petrol.

    The victims were said to have been burnt beyond recognition in the inferno, which occurred after midnight on Tuesday.

    The owners of the facility, the Pipeline Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a NNPC subsidiary, said it had cut off supplies through the affected pipelines, but the fire was still raging in the swampy area last night.

    Some eyewitnesses said they saw floating bodies on the Majidun River. Others claimed that some bodies were evacuated by security personnel.

    But, PPMC spokeman Nasir Imodagbe said nobody had access to the scene because of the fire.

    A source claimed he sighted five bodies on the river, adding that more may have been removed by security personnel.

    He also confirmed that there were several others burnt beyond recognition.

    The incident came few weeks after the Federal Government stopped the multi-billion naira pipeline protection contract awarded to the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) by the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    System 2B is an important pipeline that transports more than 11 million litres of petrol daily from the Atlas Cove Jetty across the Southwest, spanning some 512 kilometres.

    The pipeline has been a source of attraction to vandals due to its accessibility, despite huge investment by the NNPC to adopt horizontal directional drilling (HDD), that could have buried the pipelines deeper than the previous 1.5-feet installation layout.

    A major attack occurred in Arepo early in the year.

    At the time of filing this report, the actual casualty figure could not be confirmed, as rescuers were yet to gain access into the scene for fear of being killed.

    It was learnt that neither the police nor the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the bodies mandated to protect pipelines, were on duty when the vandals struck.

    A source told The Nation that the security agencies had abandoned their duty posts, adding that emergency workers said they could not enter the canal where the fire was raging for lack of protection.

    Another source identified the victims as the vandals, their relations and those who buy stolen fuel in canoes, buses and tankers.

    Because of the lucrative nature of their activity and the availability of a market, it was learnt, the vandals make between N300, 000 and N2 million daily, depending on their level of involvement.

    Imodagbe told The Nation on phone last night that the fire broke out in the morning and that PPMC had mobilised to put it out after which the damage will be assessed.

    However, he noted that because the Arepo pipeline right-of-way is located in a difficult terrain, it had not been possible to access the point where the pipeline was vandalised. Until we have access to the pipeline, we may not be able to put out the fire but we have cut off fuel supply to the line, he added.

    He said: “We are aware of the Arepo fire but you know it is in a difficult terrain and we have not been able to get access to the scene. We have stopped pumping product to the pipeline to bring down the  level of combustion. We are working with other agencies of the government, including fire-fighters, to get access to the fire point and put out the fire.

    “Currently, we are not able to assess the damage including the casualty figure – if any. It is only when we put out the fire that we will be able to assess the damage, repair the pipeline and resume pumping of product.”

    On measures against vandalism and product theft, Imodagbe said that the police were monitoring the pipeline. He noted that even the Office of the Inspector-General of Police is involved in the policing of the pipeline.

    “Towards the end of past administration, we engaged the services of community security (the Odua Peoples’ Congress).  The community policing contract has just elapsed,” he added.

    Arepo has been a pipeline vandals’ haven for years. In September 2012, vandals killed three members of staff of NNPC who were sent to repair vandalised pipe there. Between September 2012 and April 2013, about four incidents of vandalism occurred there claiming several lives.

    However, another source claimed that the fire broke out after the vandals’ boat developed a fault and went up in flames in the canal.

    The source said: “They said that the guys had finished their business but their boat developed a fault and in the process of fixing it, an explosion occurred. Others were injured but more than a hundred were burnt beyond recognition. We could not recognise them.

    “It is a very sad day for those guys because it is  not just a job where one person is involved. It is like a family business because they introduce their relations to it and even buy jerrycans for them to join.”

    Although rescue workers alleged that the scene is about two kilometres away from residential area and doubted the possibility of innocent citizens being victims, unconfirmed reports claimed that over 100 persons might have died in the mishap.

    An eyewitness said: “We cannot enter that place. No one has been able to gain access into the canal. We do not have security protection and even the security personnel are afraid of their lives.

    “It happened behind the NUJ estate and about two kilometres from the residential area. I think only the vandals are likely victims, since there is no possibility of innocent people going 50metres close to the canal.

    “We cannot enter that place unless we are sure the vandals have removed their casualties, else we may be killed.”

    Police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said policemen do not work in pipelines. His NSCDC counterpart, Emmanuel Okey, said he had not been briefed on the development.

    Ojukwu said: “I do not know the casualty figure. It is a calamity and we are investigating the cause of the clash as well as the fire.”

    Asked why policemen attached to the pipeline were not on duty, Ojukwu said: “Policemen do not work on pipelines. We are only involved now because of the incident.”

    Also confirming the incident, the Southwest spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, said the vandals’ clash occurred shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

    He said: “An unconfirmed report on a clash between different groups of vandals at Arepo around midnight has led to pipeline explosion.

    “NNPC has been alerted about the explosion and it immediately shut down supplies to suffocate the fire, while the NNPC safety unit is making effort to put out the fire.

    “No one can confirm if there are casualties or any injuries because we have not accessed the place.”

  • 31-year-old man dies in Lagos fire

    A 31-year-old man reportedly died on Friday night in a fire that razed a three-storey building on 19, Olusi Street, Lagos Island.

    The deceased simply identified as Aare, it was gathered, had visited his mother earlier to celebrate Eid-EL-Fitr with her.

    It is believed that he choked to death when he returned to his mothr’s place to retrieve his documents from the fire.

    The cause of the inferno could not be ascertained, but some residents said it might have been caused by gas; others fingered petrol.

    A resident, who gave his name as Jamiu, said the fire started around 10pm.

    Occupants, he said, fled the burning building.

    He said: “Gas? Petrol? No one really knows the cause of the fire. The third floor had a penthouse, so we really don’t know where the fire started from.”

    Another resident, who gave her name as Alhaja, said he rented the apartment for his aged mother who occupies the third floor, adding that his mother was still thankful no life was lost when they vacated the building.

    “She didn’t know her son was dead. Nobody said anything. He left his mother’s place that evening but when he got a phone call that the building was on fire, he returned, thinking that his mother was in danger. Immediately he got to the scene, he rushed upstairs to save his documents. That was the last we saw of him. His body was found at the entrance in standing position.”

    “It is a big tragedy. Just last month, he bought a plasma television for his mother and he had also planned to move into his own house this December. He was a determined man. I really wish he had a child before his death,” she said.

    Another resident, who did not give his name, said some residents stored petrol, which could be the cause of the inferno, explaining: “They sold it at cheaper rate because it was not from a clean source. That could be the cause.”

    The deceased was buried at Ikoyi Cemetery in Lagos on saturday.

    Also yesterday, fire gutted a storey building and a twin duplex in Ikotun and  Festac Town, Lagos.

    Director, Lagos State Fire Service Rasak Fadipe said the quick response of the Festac, Ojo and Isolo Fire stations prevented the spread of the Festac fire.

  • Governor Ayade’s baptism of fire

    Governor Ayade’s baptism of fire

    Prof. Ben Ayade no doubt came on board as the governor of Cross River State with lofty plans. From his ambitious plans for a new seaport and a 240-kilometre superhighway to massive industrialization and creation of jobs, it is obvious that the governor has big ideas for indigenes and non-indigenes. But the menace of robbery, kidnapping and other crimes are threatening to jeopardise his ambitious programmes.

    Calabar, the Cross River State capital, is generally regarded as the people’s paradise. Besides its serene nature, it has also earned a reputation as the safest and most peaceful state in the country. In fact, some people have wittily turned the city’s name into acronym for ‘Come And Live and Be At Rest’. Until recently, crime and other anti-social activities were near absent in the South-South state. Even during elections when the pressure to keep the peace is stretched to the limits, the state was usually free of the violence that characterised others around the country.

    Unfortunately, the foregoing was not the situation the Ayade administration inherited. The serenity that characterised the city has since given way to a wave of crimes that has shaken it to its very foundation. Now, resident are anxious to see an end to the trend which first reared its ugly head in the middle of the second term of the immediate past administration in the state.

    Some of the problems the new Ayade administration would have to battle with include cultism, robbery, kidnapping as well as the menace constituted by a group known as Skolombo Boys. This dreaded group, whose members actually include young girls, move around Calabar in large numbers with different kinds of crude weapons, collecting phones, money and other valuables from people they run into in the streets. There have also been reports of robbery operations carried out by members of the group, the oldest of which are teenagers. They consist mainly of homeless children who had previously been roaming the streets.

    Also worrisome has been the audacity of some of the perpetuators of these criminal activities. For instance, a couple of months ago, the city was held hostage by a gang of daredevil robbers for about two hours as they robbed in several locations in broad daylight. More recently, a pastor with Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), located on IBB Way opposite the Margaret Ekpo Airport in Calabar, Pastor Seyi Adekunle, was abducted by gunmen who stormed the church while Adekunle and other pastors were having a prayer session in preparation for Sunday service. Not long after the incident at the Living Faith Church, the news broke that suspected militants had attacked facilities of the Marine Police Station located on Marina Road in Calabar, to steal weapons.

    The Ayade administration, realising that the trend needs to be halted before it gets out of hands, has sent an executive bill to the Cross River State House of Assembly, seeking death penalty for convicted kidnappers in the state. He has also set up a security task force codenamed Operation Skolombo. The outfit, an addition to the already existing Quick Intervention Squad and Rapid Response Squad,

    is saddled with the task of ridding the state of criminals. Ayade appointed Brig-Gen. Mannix Nyiam (rtd) as the Chairman of the task force, with Lawrence Alobi, a retired Commissioner of Police; Col. Ekanem Ikpeme (rtd); Bassey Inyang, a retired Deputy Commissioner of Police and Inyang Yibala, a security consultant, as the other members.

    Ayade, who said the state prides itself as the most peaceful in the country, said the reports of incidents hitherto unheard of in the state informed the constitution of the task force and other measures taken to ensure the security of lives and property in the state.

    Addressing officers and men of the state’s Quick Response Squad, the governor emphasised his war on criminals, vowing to strengthen the security agencies in the state. He assured that the state government would provide all the logistics needed by security agencies to ensure that the state remains the safest in the country.

    State Security Adviser, Mr Jude Ngaji, said the Ayade administration was re-jigging the security architecture in the state to specifically deal with some of the threats already identified.

    Ngaji said: “He has set up a security task force to go after all the criminals that have been creating problems across the state. The composition of the task force speaks volumes of the intentions of the government. It is headed by a retired general and others with cognate experience in crime fighting.

    “The governor understands that he needs security to realise his promises. Until recently when we started experiencing this little challenge, Calabar and Cross River were described as the safest.

    “So, besides nipping this issue in the bud, we also want to maintain our status as the safest and most investor-friendly state in the country.”

    “In the short time that this administration came in, we have engaged with the service chiefs to improve security. We are working with a pool of personnel from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Police and other security agencies. They are to be given special training approved by the governor.

    “When they are done with it, some of them would be at our signature projects, airports, boundaries and city centres for quick intervention and rapid response to any security issues. Basically, we are ahead in terms of security.”

    The Cross River State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Henry Fadairo, said the force was doing everything possible to ensure that peace reigns supreme in the state. Speaking through the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Hogan Bassey, he said the job was however not for security agencies alone but the entire populace.

  • Lagos presents cheques to fire victims

    Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday redeemed his promise to assist victims of recent tanker fire explosions in Iyana-Ipaja and Idimu areas of the state with the distribution of cheques to 243 victims enumerated by the government.

    The Governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, at the event held at the Igando Rehabilitation Centre, Igando, urged the beneficiaries to utilise the government’s widow’s mite and return home to rehabilitate themselves as much they could.

    “We know that what government has given is not enough but with the belief that you are going to put it to judicious use, it would go a long way to help out. Please stay peaceful and remain focused.

    “We want to you to go back home and rehabilitate yourself as much as you could. The good Lord would continue to be with you. We pray not to witness this kind of incident again. We share in your feelings and urge you to continue to give your support to this administration,” the governor said.

    He urged citizens to continue to be patient and join hands with his administration, adding that the government is going to be very responsive and has already demonstrated that by the financial assistance.

    Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dr. Aderemi Desalu, said from the Iyana Ipaja incident, 76 persons were recommended for financial assistance out which seven were landlords and got N500, 000 each. 64 others who were shop owners each got N150, 000, while five tricycle operators got N50, 000 each.

  • REVEALED: Cause of fire at Ile-epo oja

    REVEALED: Cause of fire at Ile-epo oja

    The cause of the fire outbreak at Ile-epo oja, Abule Egba are of Lagos state that consumed many shops over the weekend has been discovered.
    The inferno which reportedly started at about 9pm was blamed on careless handling of generators.
    It was gathered that one of the shop owners put off the generator and carried it inside without allowing the heat to reduce and then kept a carton on it before leaving for home.
    Reports further claimed that the carton containing seasonings melted due to the hotness of the generator resulting in the fire that razed no fewer than four shops.
    Eyewitnesses reported that one of the miscreants (area boys) hanging around saw the fire and informed another shop owner, Segun who sells cassette at the other section of the building.
    Segun was said have notified the Agege fire station immediately who came but were unable to immediately put the fire under control.
    Thus, the Agege fire station contacted Alausa fire service station who eventually came to help.
    Owner of one of the affected shops, who sells cooking utensils and household items, was said to have brought in new goods on Friday before the fire incident of Saturday. Her shop was completely razed by the inferno.
    An old man whose shop was also razed said: “This is my only means of livelihood. I also send my two children to school from what I make here.”
    He also sells household wares and cooking utensils.
    It was discovered that many Northerners who trade nearby rushed to offer help as the fire stated. They broke into some shops as part of efforts to savage a few of the goods as they could.
    When The Nation arrived the scene, some men were seen tiding up the shops.
  • How Kate Henshaw lost everything to fire, by colleague

    How Kate Henshaw lost everything to fire, by colleague

    Popular actress, Kate Henshaw, it is certain, cannot get over last Thursday’s inferno that gutted her Lekki Phase 1, Lagos home in a long while, going by recent report which says ‘she lost everything she worked hard for in this world’.

    The OngaSeasoning ambassador, we learnt, was on location of the much-anticipated Do-Good, a series which is bringing back the actress and BasorgeTariah Jr. as a screen-pair, when thick smoke was noticed from her bedroom area by neighours who quickly put a call across to her.

    The actress and her colleagues, who were said to have finished shooting for the day, and were taking fun pictures for Instagram, sped to the scene, but alas! It was too late.

    They had called the fire fighters, but the best that came of the effort was rescuing the home of the second occupants of the twin duplex.

    “Everything burn down for our korokoro eye,” said an eye witness. “Then the roof catch fire then collapse.”

    Corroborating the report, one of the colleagues of the actress said, “Her room started to burn first, then it burnt down completely everything she’s got in this world. It was a sad thing to watch your property going down. The situation was helpless. We couldn’t look the actress in the face. She was more than devastated. Everyone at the scene was distraught,” he said.

    When The Nation called the actress, pains pulsated her usually vibrant voice. “Thank you… my brother … thank you…,” she said inaudibly.

    It is not clear what episode of the comic drama was being shot as at the time of the incident, but it is certain the actress who has moved to a temporaryabode is not in the right frame of mind to continue at the moment.

    Producers of the new Pidgin English sitcom, Mnet, have fixed the premiere of Do-Good for Monday, July 6, 2015.

    The drama is a spin-off of a popular Nigerian drama series of the 1990s, which features the exploits of the titular character Do-good, played by Tariah, who returns from a sojourn abroad to woo his sweetheart, Emem, played by Henshaw.

    The sitcom is said to also feature appearances from other popular comic actors including Tony Akposheri and Yibo Koko, and will be showing on the Africa Magic Urban channel (DStv channel 153).

  • Oke-Odo fire: ‘We need assistance’

    Oke-Odo fire: ‘We need assistance’

    Fire swept through Oke-Odo market in Abule Egba on Saturday, destroying nine shops.

    Grocers were yesterday counting their losses to the fire, which reportedly began around 9pm.

    “I was deep in sleep when my daughter woke me and said our shop was on fire. Around 11pm, we left our Ijoko residence to our shop thinking we could save some things. I lost two shops and four grinding machines to the fire. I was yet to make profit from the last goods I bought. I have been in this market for over 25 years and I never witnessed such incident. Ahhh!!! I don’t know where to start from and I have no other business”, said Mrs Olabisi Amosu, who trades in foodstuff.

    The fire, an eyewitness said, was caused by a generating set, adding: “One of the traders put off his generator and covered it with a carton before he locked his shop. It was not up to an hour before he left that the shops caught fire. The fire service men came immediately they were alerted but so many things had gone with the fire before it was eventually put out,” he said.

    The witness said the generator owner ran away following the havoc.

    He said: “His shop was also affected. I think running away was the least he could have done.”

    Chukwuma Uche, who also lost two shops, said he just replenished his stock last on Friday.

    He said amid tears: “God! Why me! I had just recovered from my goods that got stolen recently now this is happening again. I worship God the best way I can. This saddens my heart.”

    Another trader, simply called Mama Oyinbo, said she stocked her shop with condiments on Saturday evening.

    “The least carton of provisions I bought was five. It is a great loss. I will have to sell the little I recovered at a ridiculous price. To think I was going to be relaxing today (Sunday), I am here looking at my burnt shop.

    Mr Chichi who has been selling Kitchen Utensils for 15 years said he couldn’t save anything pleading with the government to come to their aid because he has nothing to live on.

  • Fire guts building at Allen Avenue

    Fire guts building at Allen Avenue

    A fire outbreak was on Tuesday reported at a building along Allen Avenue, Ikeja.

    The building which is located on 11, Wole Ogundimu Street off Awosika, Allen Avenue, was smoke logged fire service men arrived the scene.

     

  • My story, by father of three siblings burnt to death in Lagos mystery fire

    My story, by father of three siblings burnt to death in Lagos mystery fire

    One week after the death of three siblings roasted to death in a fire that happened at Egbeda, Lagos, the true cause of the death of the three children is still shrouded in mystery, writes HANNAH OJO. 

    HOW did the three children caught in the fire that happened on Number 18 Fakoya Street, Egbeda-Akowonjo, Lagos on the 13 of June die? Exactly a week after the sad occurrence, the answer to that question lies sketchy as investigations by The Nation reveal that the tale of the fire which claimed the lives of the three siblings namely Ugonma-9, Chukwuemeka-7 and Ufuoma-3 appears to be buried in conspiracy.

    When The Nation caught up with the father of the deceased children, Mr. Patrick Ndubisi, a 35-year-old park attendant with an interstate transport company in Oshodi, he discredited the claim that he lit a candle and locked the children inside the house to go visit his wife who was just delivered of a baby.

    Ndubisi, who was visibly pained that national dailies could carry the claims of the story without hearing his own side of the matter, said he left home by 8am on the day of the sad occurrence to look for money to discharge his wife, who had delivered a baby boy on Thursday. He didn’t return until night when the deed had already been done.

    “I stayed with my children on Friday, gave them food and catered to their needs. I was even happy with the way Ugonma, my eldest daughter, washed the new baby’s cloth and tended to the younger ones. On Saturday morning, I called my eldest daughter, gave her money to buy rice and water. The last child was crying when I was about leaving the house but I told her I had to go and look for money so that I can bring their mother home. I came to work to meet my master to borrow me N15, 000 for my wife’s hospital bills but I was told to wait till Monday.  He ordered my colleague to give me N1,000 so that I can use that to get my wife some things”.

    Patrick, who disclosed that he used the N1,000 to play lotto with the hope that he would be able to multiple it, had his hopes dashed when other sources he turned to for money didn’t yield any result. He was forced to go and borrow N700 but the malam who owns a store close to the park where he works was only able to give him N500 after he had offered to use his phone as collateral.

    “That was around 9: 30 on that Saturday. Since I walked around and didn’t get money, I already bought some soup things for my wife and so I joined a bus. I thought the best thing to do was to get to my wife and tell her that I couldn’t meet up with the money to discharge her from the hospital that day”, he relayed.

    According to him, he gave his wife N500 to manage in the morning of the day the sad occurrence happened and was later waiting for a friend to accompany him to see her in the night to inform her that he couldn’t raise the money to discharge her. He claimed he was trekking back from the hospital when he saw fire service men on duty and realised the fire tragedy was happening in his compound.

    “I flung the nylon I was holding and was pushing to enter into my compound but people restrained me. By the time I found myself inside, everything had been burnt, including my three children. Nothing remained. I was totally confused over my life”.

    He countered the claim that he lit a candle and locked the children in while he went out in the night, saying he left his house around 8am and didn’t return until the time he came to encounter the fire.

    “It is only God that can judge. I believe my children must have slept when the fire started because they usually go to sleep before I return from work. But somebody told me that a boy was trying to help them when they were shouting. My landlady’s daughter also said she saw one of my neighbours coming from the backyard before the fire started”, he stated to buttress his point.

    Patrick accused some neighbours of complicity in the case. He said on returning to the house on the Wednesday after the fire happened, he discovered that the woman who was seen in the backyard before the fire started, came to pack her things from the building. He promptly went to report her at the divisional police headquarters at Afonka, Shasha where the case is being handled.

    Many have wondered why the children could not be rescued by the neighbours since the fire started at night. It was this that prompted The Nation to launch an enquiry into the state of the relationship between the Ndubisis’ and their co-tenants.

    Sources around the area of the fire accident revealed that the parents of the deceased children do not have a cordial relationship with their co-tenants. Patrick would later substantiate the claim by saying that it is only two of the neiboubours living in the main flat that he befriends.

    “One of my neigbours told me that he bought biscuit for my last daughter to celebrate her birthday on that day.  I was not happy with the fact that he was celebrating birthday for my daughter when I was not around since my family and his are not in good terms. I told the police to interrogate him because he has been the person causing all the problems I had been having in that house”, Patrick replied.

    The co-tenant, whom he suspected, has since been detained. Patrick also dismissed the suspect’s claim that he didn’t hear the children’s cry for help because he was asleep when the fire started.  He also wondered why his landlord’s wife didn’t think to help the children before going to call her daughter who sells things at the other street”.

    “My children were very smart and active. I could not have locked them in the house. The question I am now asking God is, how come Ugonma cannot guide her younger ones?” Patrick said tearfully.

    Patrick’s relationship with the landlord appears to have been ruined since he had already been issued a quit notice over the inability of Patrick to pay his N2, 000 monthly rent on the one-room apartment.

    If, indeed, the fire was caused by a candle flame, who could have lit a candle in the night since Patrick claimed to have left the house since 8am and didn’t return until the fire outbreak? Again, how were the children locked inside since their father said the door had already been damaged?

    At the office of the transport company where Patrick sat to narrate his story to The Nation, many of his co-workers blamed newspapers for circulating what they called false reports about the mishap without even hearing from the victim.

    “You are the only press person who bothered to find out from the real victim. Other papers have been writing nonsense. We don’t know why they have been framing up this guy even without hearing his own side of the story. Somebody lost three children in a night and somebody is reporting that the mother got mad and killed the new baby, what kind of tale is that?” a visibly angry colleague of the bereaved asked.

    Some reports said during the week that Patrick’s new baby died at the hospital because the mother mishandled him when she heard the news about the children.  But the Imo State-born grief-stricken father told The Nation that the baby is still alive and his wife had since been relocated to her village in Enugu State.

    The charred remains of the children are still in the mortuary and Patrick, who claims to be an orphan, is rambling with how he can patch his life together. “I need Nigerians to help me. I have been hanging around the park and the more people tell me sorry, the more I feel sad because it causes me to remember my children.   I cannot stay in Lagos again.  I am homeless. My wife is also jobless.  I am the only child of my mother and both my parents are late”, Patrick said weeping uncontrollably.

    The landlord of the house, Rev. Samuel Oyekola, a septuagenarian, who is a reverend of the African church, told The Nation that it was the pastor of another church who cursed Patrick when they had a disagreement sometimes ago.

    “I told him to go and report at the police station, but he didn’t attach seriousness to it. The relationship of the wife and the man is not good. Nothing stops him from bringing the children to my place since his wife was in the hospital”.

    Rev Oyekola, who said he could not join the rescue team because of the state of his health, stated that the children would have been saved if the other tenants had raised an alarm.

    A pathetic scene of ruin is what describes the broken remains of the apartment where the bereaved’s family occupied. Apart from the main flat, which is an uncompleted building where the landlord and some tenants stay, the adjoining houses in the compound can best be described as shanties. Spaces which ought to have been left for proper ventilation and emergency had substandard buildings erected on them. It is in one of these compartments comprising three rooms that the Ndubisi siblings were roasted to death. The other buildings in the compound were untouched.

    Mrs. Victoria Majodumu, a chief environmental health officer in Ifelodun LCDA who joined the Lagos State Environmental Monitoring Team (SEMO) to evacuate the charred remains of the children the morning after, criticised the landlord for using up all the space in the compound.

    “He is a shylock landlord. He used up all the space meant for ventilation and emergency exit. I think the smoke of the fire would have killed the children first before they were burnt because two of them were joined together. The smoke itself is carbon monoxide and it suffocates and kills”.

    Mrs Majodumu would later describe the sight of the burnt children as pathetic since they were burnt beyond recognition.

    The death of the three children has left a deep cut in the hearts of many who knew them. A trader on the street where the children lived, who gave her name simply as Mrs Eze, said the children used to come over to her shop to play, describing the children as cute and cheerful. She lamented their awful death.

    “Those children were cute. The last one was like a half cast. I don’t know the parents but the children used to come and play at my shop”, she told The Nation.

    Mrs Ijeoma Ozuah, the proprietor of the school where the children attended, described the siblings as bright children who were eager to learn.  She expressed shock at the fact that the children could not get help when the fire started. “That Ugonma, the eldest, if you cane her and she screamed, somebody from far way would hear because she had a very strong voice.  She loved the younger ones and catered for them affectionately”.

    As police investigation continues into the case, it is yet to be decided whether the mystery of how the children died in the fire would ever be unraveled and the suspects brought to face justice.

  • FIre burnt bricks firm begins production

    ccccccccccs Congress (APC) in Ekiti State in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, congratulated Fayemi and Ekiti people, for the resumption of production in the company.

    Olatubosun said Fayemi’s dynamism and commitment to the industrialisation of Ekiti State had resulted in the great feat.

    He urged the new administration to emulate the former governor by making industrialisation one of its development agenda.

    Daramola explained that the Burnt Bricks Company was abandoned 22 years ago, but Fayemi in his industrial development a?genda insisted that the industry would be brought back to life by fully paying for the completion of the industry before he left office.

    He added: “I told my people that if they could give me their  mandate, I would ensure the completion of the project. Working with the state government on this, Fayemi took bond in the capital market to resuscitate the industry, among other income generating development projects he executed. He engaged professionals and gave them a matching order to bring the industry back on stream. The result is what we are celebrating today as the company begins production.