Residents of Gado-Nasko area of Kubwa, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, Bwari Area Council, were on Friday night treated to a horror as a family of four were burnt to death.
DAILY POST gathered that the fire was ignited after one Chinedu Elliot, who had stored fuel in his apartment, dropped a burning stick of cigarette near some gallons of fuel.
Following the recent fuel scarcity, which saw Nigerians buy fuel in jerry-cans to store in their homes for subsequent use, Mr Elliot had reportedly bought fuel in three gallons from where he purportedly tops up his vehicle daily.
The pathetic incident, which happened at about few minutes to midnight and stretched into the wee hours of Saturday, threw residents into mourning as Elliot, his pregnant wife and two children were burnt beyond recognition.
When DAILYPOST got to the scene, a resident, who identified himself as Afolayan Ayodele, wept uncontrollably as he narrated the incident.
He said, “Nigeria don do their worse. My neighbour, all of us na hustlers we be. (Sic)
“I last saw him at about 11: 15 p.m when I was by my balcony and he took a walk out, saying he wanted to smoke some sticks of cigarette before retiring for the day. I’m sure he later came to sit close to where he stored the fuel but failed to quench his cigarette properly before going in,” Ayodele said.
“This fuel scarcity forced us to store fuel in our homes, otherwise, we no go chop. Oh God, which kind life be this? Ohh! Why? How? This is wickedness, the devil must have been at work in this bad situation. (Sic)
“Operatives of fire service could not be reached. We persistently called to no avail. We used everything we could to stop the fire. The fire even extended to my house but it didn’t cause much damage,” he added.
The deceased’s brother, Elliot Nonso said his supposed ‘wayward’ life saved him.
He said he went ‘clubbing’ against his brother’s wish.
“Friday nights are usually very boring for me if I am at home. So as usual, I thought I should go turn up with the boys. For the very first time, my brother didn’t want me to go out but I insisted. (Sic)
“I received a call that this unfortunate thing caught up with my brother and his family. I don’t even know where to start,” he sobbed.
A police officer attached to the Kubwa Police Command, one Cpl Magaji Ismail, speaking on behalf of the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Chief Superintendent Nurrudeen Sabo, confirmed the incident saying, “Seeing all these, what can I possibly say?
“I’m not disposed to utter any statement but I must say this is tragic”.
Ismail, who obviously was still in shock over the sad incident, urged Nigerians to desist from storing fuel in their homes.
“If you must reserve petrol, then it should be a bit far from your home. Also, if you must smoke, this is harmattan period, make sure there are no flammables around and endeavour to quench it,” he added.
