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Tag: fire

  • Ajimobi pledges to assist market fire victims

    Ajimobi pledges to assist market fire victims

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has pledged to assist victims of the Alesinloye market fire disaster within one week.

    The governor, who visited the burnt market in Ibadan twice in one day, made the pledge while inspecting its damage last Saturday.

    His first visit was at 2a.m on Saturday and later in the day to identify with the affected traders.

    Ajimobi expressed sympathy with the traders, describing the fire incident, which destroyed over 500 shops, as “very unfortunate.”

    He pledged that the government would provide succour for the victims.

    The governor recalled his experience when his Lagos private residence was razed in 1993.

    He prayed that God, who assisted him to overcome the incident, would also compensate the traders.

    He directed the affected traders to form a committee to meet with government representatives.

    The governor urged the leadership of the market to ensure equitable distribution of whatever assistance the government would offer.

    He pleaded that such assistance should not be politicised.

  • Goddess that eats fire

    Goddess that eats fire

    There is a mysterious tree in Ijebu – Ode that rain does not touch when it falls, and a sacred room where fire is served as food to a goddess, Obinrin Ojowu. Taiwo Abiodun reports.

    Standing majestically at the frontage of the bungalow of Olowa Iberu compound in Odo Esa, Ijebu -Ode is a firmly rooted huge and tall  tree the residents claim has been there for hundreds of years. Its trunk is wrapped with a white cloth ( which had turned brown , no thanks to the weather that had beaten it ) while a carcass of a dried dog is hung on it, dangling like  pendulum .The tree is revered and feared and sacrifices are offered to it . Its custodian, High Chief Rasaq Adeneye Oshimodi , the Olowa Iberu of Ijebu land, told this reporter: “What amazes the natives and non-natives is that when it rains, the rain does not fall on the leaves.  Not only this, when the trunk and taproots dry off, the leaves will remain fresh and green and will not wither. It is the same thing when the leaves wither and dry off. The trunks and tap roots become fresh and strong. Welcome to Olowa Iberu’s compound in Ijebu -Ode , a town noted to be rich in culture.

    According to Olowa Iberu, there are three notable and important palaces in Ijebu Ode, and these are  Awujale, Lisa and Olowa palaces.

    According to the Olowa Iberu of Ijebuland, “The tree has been there for over 500 years. You cannot mention Ijebu -Ode without mentioning this tree. It was a tiny staff planted here by our forefathers  years ago that eventually metamorphosed to this big tree standing here till date. It is a mysterious tree that must not be cut down.”

    Olowa Iberu affirmed the spiritual power behind the tree, saying, “No one has ever tried to cut it. In fact, it is worshipped along with so many things .I am the spiritual leader here who oversee all these things and know when and how to offer sacrifices to all these. I ascended the Olowa throne early last year when the former one died.” He continued, “A female dog is used for the sacrifice, while its internal organs are clinically removed. When all the blood has dried up, it is then hung on the tree. The dog’s blood must not touch the tree. It is forbidden.”

    Mysterious rooms

    In one of the Olowa Iberu’s rooms is a sacred room where they ‘offer’ fire as sacrifice to the Obinrin Ojowu (Jealous Goddess). According to Olowa, many rooms there are forbidden to be entered into especially except the initiated ones. He said, “There is a room where we make firewood. No one enters it. And if you take the picture, your camera could crack and the picture will not show. There is a room where we keep the firewood which must not be entered by a woman, while special leather drums here are forbidden to be beaten by just anybody.”

    He continued, “The goddess here does not eat food or animal but eats fire. In that room, we burn firewood to heat the big basket that contains some strange things in the basket which is placed on the bamboo racks here every nine days. The fire from the burning of the firewood and the heat serve as the goddess’ food. The goddess does not eat anything but fire. We prepare firewood in the sacred room to burn or heat the basket every nine days and it burns continually for five or six days. The fire must not quench.”

    Asked what would happen if there is no money to buy firewood or if the firewood are exhausted within the nine days’ ritual or if the ritual is missed and not observed, the Olowa Iberu and his visitor who is an indigene screamed as they both stated, “It is forbidden, we dare not! We must not miss it.God forbid! If we miss it, there will be calamity in the town.”

    As the reporter peeped into the room, he could see a basket placed on a bamboo rack. The bamboo rack had turned brown – no thanks to the fire and fumes it had consumed. The Olowa Iberu said, “We set firewood and burn them under the bamboo rack but the bamboo and the basket are never burnt as they only turn brown. I know you will be surprised but that is the mysterious power of the goddess , Obinrin Ojowu.”

    Forbidden drum

    The Olowa Iberu said further, “One must not beat the traditional drum in the compound and no woman should enter the room where the drum is brought out. No woman will ever enter this place, it is forbidden. We don’t just beat the drum anyhow, it has an occasion for it.”

    Olowa Iberu himself

    Dressed in a traditional wear with beads dangling on his neck, Olowa Iberu’s plaited hair made him look like a woman. His blood-shot eyes were frightening. As he spoke, his eyes rolled from one side to another as if possessed by the spirit of the goddess. He said, “As the chief custodian, I must not see a dead body. I must not eat turkey or any bird. I must not kill or eat snake. Even if the snake crawls into our living room we will send it away instead of killing it. Not only this, I must not kill cat or eat an egg.”

    According to Olowa Iberu, the Obinrin Ojowu festival is held every March. He spoke about the rules the Olowa Iberu should obey. He said, ” When it is three months to the festival (around December), Olowa Iberu should not have sexual intercourse with any woman and should be chaste. No woman should cook or wash his clothes. Rather he should do all these for himself or some servants of the monarch should come and assist him.  In fact, he should not get close to any woman.”

    He spoke further about the goddess. “It (the goddess) could make you become crippled or make you go blind or even kill whoever disobeys its rules such as by bringing  kolanuts or hot drink to its place as it abhors all these. The goddess d oes not forgive and it is not easily given to anger. It does not arrest or punish or victimise people at random. Not only this. It does not ask questions and it’s annoyance could be fatal.”

    Asked whether any   Olowa had broken the taboo before, the Olowa Iberu scratched his head and said that one Olowa broke the taboo of not having sex. As a result, he did not live for a long.

    Olowa’s lamentation

    However,  the current Olowa Iberu said he is not happy with the goings on as at present as he is not given enough money for the rituals being carried out. According to him, the state government gave the community N60, 0000 for the ceremony last year. He lamented, “The money was not enough. I spend a lot of money on this festival or ceremony. I don’t receive salaries on all these. If you call the Ijebu Ode people, even those who love the goddess will not give you money to do all these”.

    He said further, “I spend about 700, 0000 naira doing this annually .This year the state gave us 60, 0000 naira only and it does not cover the security alone. The firewood I buy every nine days are expensive and if I don’t do this things could go wrong in Ijebu Ode.”

    How powerful the goddess is

    The Olowa Iberu said there is spiritual power to stop the rain during the celebration in case it would disrupt their activities when offering sacrifice. His words: “We will stop the rain if we are bringing the goddess out and we will all trek or walk round the town during the festival. We usually inform the king for he owns the goddess.”

    Asked to confirm whether it is true that human beings were being used in the past for sacrifice to the goddess, the custodian of the goddess tactically replied, “Well, that was in the olden days. I don’t know of that but we don’t use human being here.”

    According to Olowa Iberu, the goddess groans and moans when there is an impending disaster. There was a time an accident was about to happen on the express, we went to offer sacrifice. Only 25 people died, the figure could have been more than that.”

    Man of three religions

    Olowa Iberu said he was once a  devoted Muslim but changed to Christianity because Christians “are the one supporting me. I go to church also and this does not affect my traditional religion and as the spiritual leader of Olowa Iberu dynasty.”

  • Fire destroys over 100 shops in Ibadan market

    Fire destroys over 100 shops in Ibadan market

    GOODS worth over N1billion were destroyed in a fire inferno that ravaged parts of the popular Aleshinloye market in Ibadan,Oyo state capital at the weekend.

    Men of the State Fire Service yesterday successfully quenched the raging fire, which began on Friday night.

    Hundreds of affected traders were seen wailing over the huge loss, calling on well- meaning individuals and government at all levels to come and assist them.

    The leader of Igbo community in the state, Eze Ndigbo of Ibadanland,  Eze Alex Anozie, led other Igbo chiefs to the market to sympathise  with the  traders yesterday.

    Describing the loss as very devastating, Anozie made passionate appeal to the government to assist the affected traders financially and also help in reconstructing the shops.

    He also suggested that the market be ordered to close by 6pm daily, leaving only the security personnel to man the market and open for business by 7am.

    “I remember that since such was introduced at Onitsha market, frequent fire out break stopped,” Anozie added.

    The burnt items are mainly jeweleries, fabrics, shoes, handbags and travelling bags as well as wrist watches, among others.

    One of the affected traders, Mr.Adeoye Soyemi, who deals with jeweleries, told newsmen that no fewer than six hundred shops were affected in the inferno, putting his loss at close to N1 million.

    He revealed that the fire started as a result of power surge, which affected one refrigerator inside one of the affected shops.

    Further investigation revealed that when the fire initially started, five shops were affected while the private night guards on duty alerted men of Oyo State fire service.

    It was also learnt that the fire fighters could however not get enough water to contain the fire, a development which worsened the situation.

    It was a sad tale for many of the traders who got to know of the incident as late as midnight as hoodlums had already vandalised and stolen their goods before getting to the market.

    As at press time, scores of affected traders were compiling their names and items lost to the inferno with sympathisers thronging the market.

  • Fire guts National Chronicle publisher’s home

    The home of the Publisher and Editor–in-Chief of the National Chronicle, Mr. Timothy Okojie, has been gutted by fire.

    According to a statement by Okojie, the inferno, which started about 12:30am on Monday at his home in Idimu, Lagos, was caused by a generator, which supplied power to his three bedroom apartment.

    He thanked God that nobody died, but said belongings worth thousands of naira were lost.

    Okojie thanked his neighbours, who prevented the fire from causing more damage.

  • Gunmen open fire on worshippers in Kaduna

    One person was killed and several others injured when unknown gunmen opened fire on worshippers during Sunday service at a Catholic Church in Ungwar Pau-Pau in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

    The incident happened in the early hours of yesterday when the gunmen invaded the church during the service, shooting sporadically.

    Eyewitness said one of the youth guarding the church was killed. Several others injured are reportedly receiving treatment at various hospitals in the area.

    Kachia experienced a religious clash in May, 2014, following destruction of a fence on a land owned by the state government. Muslims in Kachia use the land as Eid prayer ground.

    Many people were killed during the incidents, while churches and mosques were also burnt.

    In yesterday’s attack, the eyewitness said:”They came with sophisticated weapons shooting and one person died instantly while several others injured have been admitted at various hospitals. Church Mass was ongoing when the gunmen came and started shooting.”

    Another resident, Mr. Timothy Gomel, said: “Military personnel came and asked some of our youths to lead them to where the attackers retreated through. As I am talking to you, they are combing the bush.”

    Though Chairman of Kachia Local Government, Peter Agite could not be reached as at the time of going to the press, his deputy, Alfred Alfred confirmed the incident to reporters.

  • Plane catches fire at Kano Airport

    A turkish plane caught fire during fuelling at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.

    It was gathered that the incident occurred at 11 pm.

    The Airport authorities were mobilised to the site and the aircraft was towed away.

    A source said the fuel tanker was partly razed and the aircraft “slightly damaged”.

    The source said: “It was God who saved the aircraft. Men of the Airport Fire  Service mobilised to the scene immediately.

    “The good thing was that the fuelling was through a tanker, which partially caught fire but the fire was promptly put out, if it was underground fuelling, it would have been a disaster.”

  • ‘Mystery’ fire at Awolowo Hall

    There was a fire at the Awolowo Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, last Tuesday. The occupants described it as mysterious and an attempt by the management to eject them. AFEES LASISI reports.

    For more than 30 minutes last Tuesday, students and fire fighters battled to save Room 107 in Block 7 of the Awolowo Hall at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, from being razed by fire.

    The incident, according to witnesses, occurred at 11pm when the occupants went to watch the World Cup match between Argentina and Netherlands in the Postgraduate Hall. Some students, who were around the building, noticed the fire and raised an alarm.

    Their alarm attracted the attention of viewers in the Postgraduate Hall and porters, who called the institution’s fire service. Before the fire could be put out, most of the items in the room, including students’ credentials, had been burnt. Some parts of the wall also got cracked.

    The cause of the fire could not be ascertained immediately but some of the hall’s occupants said it could have been caused by candle light. There has not been power supply to the Halls of Residence since the management ordered students to leave the campus, following their protest over fee hike.

    An occupant of the room, who did not give his name, said: “I left the room around 8pm and came back after the match only to see that our properly had been burnt. I cannot estimate my loss until I settle down but I know that all my documents are in the room.”

    He also denied that his roommates left a lit candle before they went to view the match.

    One of the students, who saw the fire, described it as strange, saying: “The first thing I heard was the creaking sounds. I thought it was a disturbance by rats which have formed a colony in the hostel. Later, I realised that it was a fire when I saw thick smoke coming out of the room. That was when I raised the alarm and got people to salvage the situation.”

    Some students said the fire became intense because the fire fighters did not respond immediately, saying the security personnel on duty brought only one fire extinguisher, which did nothing.

    “None of the fire extinguishers we saw were working,” said a student, who simply identified himself as Segun.

    The management on June 18 ordered students out of the campus and announced an that the institution has been closed indefinitely because of the protest.

    Some students felt the decision was harsh, having paid for accommodation on campus. They stayed back. Some of them are not sure about the cause of the fire but students believe the management may have planned the incident to evict students from the hall.

    A student, who gave his nickname as Choco Milo, said it was difficult to believe that “ordinary candle flame” or stove could cause such damage.

    He said: “We are still investigating what really happened that night. An expert that assessed the magnitude of the damage to the wall of the room said it was beyond what candle or stove could cause. So what caused the fire?”

    Speaking to our correspondent on telephone on Monday, the institution’s Public Relations Officers (PRO), Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, dismissed the allegation as illogical and unreasonable, wondering why the management would destroy the school property. He said the management had begun an investigation into the incident.

    He said: “We have ordered the students to vacate the hostels after their protest a few weeks ago. The good students have since left and gone back to their parents but those around are miscreants. So, it is illogical and unreasonable for anyone to attribute the cause of the fire to the management. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bamitale Omole, is a responsible man, who is doing everything possible to protect lives and property on the campus.”

    While the source of the inferno remains a puzzle for management and students to unravel, the question on the lips of many is: what caused the fire when there was no electricity supply to the building and students claimed they did not light any candle?

  • Photo: Gombe fire disaster

    Photo: Gombe fire disaster

  • Fire razes 120 shops in Lagos market

    For palm and vegetable oil sellers at Daleko Market in Isolo, Lagos, it  was a bad Sunday following a fire outbreak that destroyed their wares.
    Over 120 shops were completely razed with others partially affected after an electrical fault sparked the inferno.
    Eyewitnesses said the fire started around 9:30am and raged such that motorists on the bridge could feel the heat.
    But for the intervention of the Lagos State Fire Service, the Sunday inferno would have wrecked more havoc.
    However, no casualty was recorded.
    At the time The Nation visited the market, fire fighters and other rescue agencies had cordoned off the affected areas, while traders were transferring their wares from the market to neighbouring streets, causing gridlock on the road.
    To make the transfer swift, it was observed that openings were created by removing the road demarcation, thus saving the lorries the stress of having to go and turn at Palm Avenue.
    As at the time of filing this story,  emergency agencies were still battling the fire.
    When contacted, Fire Service Director, Rasaq Fadipe said they were not overwhelmed.
    He confirmed that about 120 shops were destroyed, calling for the overhauling of electrical wiring systems across Lagos Markets.
    He said: “We are battling with the outbreak and 120 open shops, selling palm oil and vegetable oil were consumed by fire.
    “Fire fighting operation is still on,but we are fully in control. The incident was caused by power surge.
    “There is need for total overhauling of electrical wiring system in Lagos markets. We responded with three fire trucks of 1000 litres of water each from Isolo, Ilupeju and ikeja,” Fadipe said.

  • Fire razes Physics dept

    Fire razes Physics dept

    Students of the Department of Physics at the Delta State University (DELSU) in Abraka have returned to school to discover that their department had been razed by fire.

    The inferno, which was said to have started in the night, gutted the office of the departement’s head and burnt documents.

    The management, however, said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, noting that investigation was on-going.

    Unconfirmed reports said the incident may have been instigated by students, who felt dissatisfied with their results.

    CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the performance of students in previous session, especially 200-Level students, was poor. It was learnt that less than 50 per cent of students, who offered PHY 101 and PHY 102, failed.

    An anonymous student, who graduated from the department last session, lamented the incident. He said: “Why will this be happening when I just graduated and ready for National Youth Service? Now the fire will give the department excuse not to present our names for the National Youth Service. It is just unfortunate.”

    Another student, who also craved for anonymity, said he was happy by the development. He said: “The excesses of the department have to be checkmated.”

    At the time of this report, the department’s officials were retrieving students’ academic records and other information about them.