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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
It’s been pain, agony, tears, and sorrow for some residents of Ebonyi State after suspected arsonists burnt down their houses and other property worth millions of naira, thereby rendering them homeless and traumatised.
Last week, a six-room apartment of a physically challenged widower, Michael Emerike, of Nchoko Ndiechi, Izzi Local Government Area of the state, was burnt to ashes without a single item salvaged from the inferno. The burnt property, built three years ago, was valued at over N40 million.
The incident occurred late in the night when two unidentified men reportedly banged on his window, waking him from sleep moments before flames engulfed the building.
Emerike, who is hard of hearing, said he opened the door only to be confronted by two men who, forcefully, pulled him outside as the roof began to collapse behind him.
“Had it been that the fire blocked the entrance, I would have been a dead man by now. I was dragged out of the house by two men who I couldn’t recognise because it was late in the night and fire engulfed everywhere in my compound.
“I sustained some injuries as you can see bruises on my knees and some other parts of my body. No single item in my house was rescued. We lost everything; we are now homeless and helpless. I don’t know where to start,” he lamented.
Emerike called for help from Ebonyi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the state government, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and well-meaning Nigerians.
“I don’t have anything to rebuild this house,” Emerike repeated tearfully. “We are begging the government to intervene in our problem,” he added.
A witness, Joseph Nwedu, said he was the one that rescued the widower by breaking the iron door of his house.
“If I didn’t break that door, we would be talking about recovering a dead body today. I saw flames everywhere and I became worried because I know that if I don’t act, lives would be lost. So, I rushed to the man’s house, broke the door and entered inside, and rescued him. I thank God that no life was lost, and for the effort that was made to save his life”, he said.
The widower’s son, Monday, narrated that he stepped out to buy something when he saw flames spreading across the roof. He said all his efforts to salvage the family’s belongings failed as there was no help from any quarter.
“Nothing was removed. Everything, including clothes, food, fridge, TV, bed —everything is gone,” Monday said.
Relatives of the victim, witnesses, and community members strongly suspect a case of arson.
Stanley Nwoga, the family’s in-law, said “there was no electricity. NEPA disconnected their light because they could not pay their electricity bills. This is not a power surge. Somebody came here and set this building ablaze”, he alleged.
He added that signs observed in the rooms suggest something inflammable might have been poured inside the house before it was set ablaze.
A cleric, Reverend Remy Olukamma, described the incident as “wickedness of the highest order,” insisting that neither gas, candle, nor electrical faults were responsible for the inferno.
“We perceive evil hands behind this. The family is homeless, the father is disabled, and the children have nowhere to lay their heads,” he said.
In Abakaliki metropolis, an unidentified machete wielding man set a popular petrol station, Echemas, ablaze, burning a new commercial Sienna vehicle. The incident occurred last Thursday.
The driver of the vehicle and some of his passengers sustained injuries during the incident, while the vehicle was burnt to ashes. It took the intervention of the state fire service to save the entire filling station from being razed down as a result of the incident.
The commercial Sienna vehicle with registration number; ENU-28GC, which has Onitsha South as its inscription, was carrying passengers and goods worth millions of naira when the incident occurred.
The man was said to have entered the station, located on the ever-busy Kilometre 3 Abakaliki/Enugu Expressway, and ordered Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) attendants to stop dispensing patrol to customers.
The attendants refused to obey the man and continued their businesses which infuriated him and he set the vehicle ablaze to enforce his order.
“We didn’t listen to him because he didn’t tell us why we should stop selling fuel, and he is not a security agent or government official; we don’t know him and he didn’t introduce himself to anyone.
“Because we didn’t obey him, he approached one of us, a lady who was dispensing fuel inside a Sienna vehicle, and raised the cutlass to attack her, but she dodged it and ran away.
“When the lady ran away, the man collected the nozzle that was inside the vehicle’s tank, and set the Sienna vehicle ablaze with a lighter he came to our station with.
“At this point, everyone in the station rushed at him, but he scared us with the cutlass he had and ran away”, one of the attendants, Faith Oroke, told Daily Sun.
Manager of the station, Lebara Chukwudi, said when he saw what was happening and rushed at the man, he almost cut him with the machete.
“The guy was just scaring all of us with the cutlass after setting our filling station ablaze, and he almost cut my head. When we started chasing him, he ran away through the back of the filling station.
“The driver sustained serious burns when he was trying to overpower the man. The man was spraying fuel on him and fire was burning him. The driver has been rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital, very close to our station.
Some other passengers sustained injuries, too, but not like the driver”, he narrated.
In the early hours of 5th of this month, at the Kpirikpiri/Osborne Hotel, also in the capital city, a POS operator was set ablaze by a robbery suspect who attempted to dispossess her of her money.
According to witnesses’ accounts, including that of Tony Ukwome who resides within the area, the robbery suspect attacked the female POS operator, poured fuel on her, and set her ablaze before fleeing with her bag of money.He said residents of the area quickly intervened and rescued the victim, who miraculously survived the horrific attack.
Ukwome noted that they also apprehended the suspect and recovered the POS operator’s money, while the suspect, who they described as very notorious, was handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution.
