By Esther Onyegbula

When the family of Ifeanyi Ugwu woke up last Saturday morning, never in their wildest imagination did any of them envisage the tragedy that befell them later in the day.

By the end of the day, their rented apartment which was part of a 10-room bungalow situated at Iba New site, Ojo, Lagos, was razed down by a strange fire.

The inferno which snuffed life out of an 86-year-old grandmother almost claimed the life of their 4-year-old daughter, Amarachi. While little Amarachi is lying critically ill in the hospital, the family has to contend with losing all they acquired to the inferno.

Amarachi… lying critically ill on the hospital bed

Their ordeal , which seems to be unending, reportedly started three years ago when Ifeanyi Ugwu’s shop where he sells tiles, located at Coker in Orile- Iganmu, Lagos, was destroyed during the road expansion along Orile- Badagry express way. The loss of the family’s only source of income was better imagined than experienced as Ifeanyi became hypertensive and developed stroke. Unable to make ends meet or pay the rent of the three bedroom flat which they occupied, the family had no option but to move to the one- room apartment at Iba New Site, Ojo.

Barely able to speak, distraught Ifeanyi Ugwu who is presently lying critically ill at the hospital, told Crime Guard: “After washing clothes outside the house that morning, I took the detergent and my phone inside. I served my daughter some of the remaining food, closed the door while I went outside to hang the clothes on the line. Immediately I finished hanging the clothes on the line at the back of the house, I saw smoke everywhere coming out of the building. Before I could raise the alarm, the whole building was up in flames. I was shouting and calling my daughter’s name, no response. I was only able to open the door as the heat from the flames had engulfed the whole building.

Miraculous escape

Together with other tenants and neighbours who had gathered, we attempted going inside the house to rescue her and the old landlady, who had been bedridden, but the heat from the flames was too much and we could not. I just kept asking God, is this how my daughter will be roasted alive? All of a suddenly, Amarachi walked out of the raging flames which nobody could enter to rescue her. It was a miracle. Her clothes were in flames. Neighbours and co-tenants who were around advised that I rush her to the hospital. Left with no option, no money, no clothes on, just with wrapper on my waist, I rushed my daughter to the chemist instead of a hospital. When I got there, the owner of the place said that the burns were too much and beyond what they can handle. Weeping like a child, I took her to Divine shield hospital, where she was admitted and given first aid treatment by the nurses as the doctor was not around.

But for other patients in the ward who raised alarm when I passed out, I would have been dead by now, as I have been very hypertensive since my shop where I sold tiles was among the shops destroyed during the road construction at Coker in Orile.’’

Wife laments

His wife, Mrs Roda Ifeanyi-Ugwu, stated the plight of the family in tears: “At about 9am that day, I left the house after we had breakfast. I took the vehicle which I used to transport bread for servicing at the mechanic. I went with my nine year-old son. I left the vehicle there while my son and I went to the market. We were in the market buying things when my phone rang and a friend told me that my house was on fire. Immediately, we boarded a bike to the house where I met the entire house raised down by fire. As I was crying, neighbours around told me that my husband and daughter were at the Divine shield hospital. One of them directed me to the hospital. When I got there, I met my husband and daughter, my daughter’s face, hands and back were burnt while my husband was unconscious. Unfortunately, the doctor was not on seat, it was the nurses that attended to my daughter and husband.

“After my husband regained consciousness, he told me what happened and how our daughter was rescued. We took our daughter to Iba police post at Adolf to report the case that same night. When we got there, the police said that the case has already been reported by our co-tenants and that the IPO was not on duty. From there, I took my daughter to my sister in-laws’ house as we had no food and no cash. When my sister in law saw my daughter’s condition, she took us to their family hospital that night where my daughter was admitted alongside my husband who is hypertensive.

Visit to Police station

Burnt-house

“The next morning, I went back to the police post at Iba and the officers on duty said the IPO was not around. Fortunately, I met the IPO when I went back on Monday morning. I told him that I am the mother of the victim in the fire outbreak that happened on Saturday. Immediately, he shouted; “You burnt down the house and ran away, now you have come because we impounded your vehicle.” I said no that I came to the station on Saturday and on Sunday but was told he was not on duty. He said I should shut up, who asked me to speak while he was talking? I said I was sorry, all I wanted to do was to explain. He then asked the junior officer to walk me out of his office. I knelt down, pleaded with him to, at least, take my statement. He said they will come and arrest my husband when he is discharged from the hospital.

Persecution

“Right now, the family of the landlady who was killed in the inferno are threatening to attack my husband because of insinuations that we caused the inferno. Policemen at Adolf police post have refused to take down my statement, alleging that we ran away after burning the house, which is not true. We are calling on the Inspector- General of police, IGP Solomon Arase, the Lagos state Commissioner of police, Fatai Ajani Owoseni, the Governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, and Nigerians to come to our rescue before we are made to suffer for what we do not know about after loosing so much,”she pleaded.