5 siblings left in neighbour’s care burnt to death

TRACKING>>Five siblings at Abagbo village, Takwa Bay area of Lagos, and a male guest of one lady in Oginigba community, Obio Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State have been burnt beyond recognition.

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In Lagos, it was gathered that mother of the victims, Florence Asoye, had on Tuesday, August 6, left her home at about 6:30p.m., for Takwa Bay Jetty, only to return and saw her room completely razed by fire.

According to Florence Asoye, “I left my children under the care of one Suliat before I went to Takwa Bay Jetty. Unfortunately for me, Suliat locked my children in the room and left for an unknown destination.

“The children—Folake Ogundiya, 13; Abigail Ogundiya, 8; Daniel Bakare, 6; Chidima Achomye; Nnamdi Achomye, 2, and Khadijat, 1—were burnt beyond recognition.”

Confirming the incident, spokesman of Lagos State Police Command, Bala Elkana, said on Wednesday, August 7, at about 10:30a.m., Takwa Bay Police Station received information that there was a fire incident at Abagbo village, Takwa Bay, the previous night that claimed the lives of five children from the same family.

“A team of detectives, led by the Divisional Police Officer, visited the scene.”

Meanwhile, Police are investigating the death of a female lodger found dead in a hotel room in Lagos on Friday afternoon.

It was gathered that the remains of the lodger, identified simply as Jessica, was found in a hotel (name withheld) in Morogbo Area of Lagos.

According to source, “homicide detectives found the corpse on the bed facing up, with swollen face and foam-like fluid coming out of her mouth.

“Her throat was tied with clothes, suggesting that she might have been strangulated. Also there were blood stains all over the place.”

Confirming the incident, Bala Elkana said: “The Police at Morogbo Police Station received information at 2p.m. on Friday, that one Jessica a lodger was found dead in her hotel room.

“The corpse was evacuated to mortuary for autopsy, while the scene was preserved for forensic analysis. The Commissioner of Police Lagos State, Zubairu Muazu, has ordered the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, to take over the investigation.”

In Port Harcourt, female host escapes

Meanwhile, in the Port Harcourt incident, the female host of the dead man escaped and disappeared from the locality, while her guest got burnt to death as the wild fire overwhelmed residents, with many escaping without saving any personal belonging.

Grace Inyand, one of the victims, said: “I had just finished eating when I heard shouting. I came out and saw that fire had engulfed the apartment where it started.

“I ran back into my apartment, but could only rush my son. All my property were burnt to ashes.”

Another, Bisong, said: “We suspect someone plugged and left a ring boiler heating up in his apartment. We tried quenching the fire, but we couldn’t do much to save the situation. All my property got burnt. I am left with only what I have on my body.”

A community leader said: “I called the DPO; no response. I called and reported to the SO. I have six or eight fire fighting emergency numbers. I called almost all. Only two responded and said they can’t access the spot with their vehicles.

“My community boys around took to self-help. If not for them, the fire would have affected a nearby buildings and more property. It was when I got to the scene at dawn that I saw a man burnt dead, beyond recognition.

“They said he was the guest of a girl who lived in that apartment. The girl had escaped and ran away. I don’t know the landlord of the affected buildings, but I know the water front belongs to some persons in the community. They don’t live there. They may not know what happened.”