Fire razes shanties in Lagos

Fire on Tuesday razed scores of shanties at the Ondo-Ibadan axis of the Okobaba sawmill in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos State.

An eyewitness told journalists that the fire started in one of the shanties but spread to others in the area.

However, the cause of the fire has not been ascertained.

“When the fire started, residents of the area trooped out in their hundreds to put the fire out,” he said.

Firefighters from the state fire service and other emergency responders are still battling to quell the inferno at the time of this report.

One year after, Adams begs FG, Lagos to compensate Abule Ado explosion victims

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has called on the Federal and Lagos State Government to compensate the victims of the March 2020 Abule Ado pipeline explosion in Lagos.

Adams made the call on Sunday in Lagos, at a memorial prayer in honour of those who lost their lives during the pipeline explosion on March 15, 2020.

The event was organised by the Soba Landlords and Residents Association (SLARA), and was held at the site of the former Bethlehem Girls College where five people, including the School’s Principal, Rev. Sis. Henriatta Alokha, died.

Adams, who is also the Chairman of the Association, said the event was to ensure that memories of the incident; the lives lost, the losses incurred and the damage to the community, we’re not forgotten.

He said the occasion was also to remind the government of the promises they made to the victims of the explosion and urged them to fulfil them.

According to him, it was unfortunate that the association had to resort to publicly reminding the government of their promises.

He noted that 30 people including the Association’s Vice Chairman, his wife and two children, died instantly from the explosion, and over 300 houses were destroyed during the explosion.

“The governor was here, even the speaker of the house was here, some South-West governors were here and they made promises to those affected by the disaster that certain amount will be paid as compensation.

We are using this opportunity to appeal to the LASG, as a state with honour and the economic nerver centre of our nation to fulfill all promises made to the victims. The federal government should do something tangible for the victims,” he said.

Meanwhile, Adams disclosed that the Association had taken legal action against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the disaster.

Also, Vice Chairman of SLARA, Philips Akinduro, urged LASG to help improve the lives of the members of the community by fulfilling its promises to the victims.

He said the state had set up a N2 billion trust fund for the victims with an initial contribution of N250 million and another N200 million from The Governors’ Forum.

“Many of our landlords borrowed money to do renovations that you see today. Many of our members were hospitalised, only few have paid the hospital bills,” he said.

Akinduro urged LASG to release monies that had been contributed so far to help cushion the suffering of the victims.

The traditional ruler of the community, Jimoh Agbebeji, said the community was yet to recover from the incident and would appreciate every help rendered to the victims.

Fire outbreak at army headquarters Abuja

The Nigerian Army has reported a fire outbreak at its Headquarters in Abuja.

This was disclosed in a statement, released Tuesday morning by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, attributing the cause of the inferno to faulty electrical installations.

The Army Headquarters complex is currently undergoing some renovation involving electrical rework.

The incident which happened at about 10.15am was as a result of a minor electrical fault in one of the offices.

“The Nigerian Army Fire Service Department has since put out the fire. No casualty was recorded during the incident and normalcy has since returned to the complex,” the statement read.

Sunday Igboho’s Ibadan house reportedly set on fire

A house belonging to activist, Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho located in Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo State was in the early hours of Tuesday burnt by fire.

It was gathered that the fire started soon after power supply to the area where the house is located was cut off, and the cause of the fire is still unknown.

The house is said to be where the activist resided before building another one in the same Ibadan area.

It is still unclear if there were anybody inside the building as at the time of the fire incident, or if there were any casualties.

Igboho had been in the news lately for leading some youths to the Fulani settlement in Ibarapa, Oyo State where they attacked the Seriki Fulani’s house, and setting.it on fire.

Some cars in the premises were also set ablaze.

Igboho had issued a quit notice to Fulanis in the state, and south west region of the country to vacate, after they were accused of complicity in kidnappings, killings and other crimes in the area.

There had been clashes between Herdsmen and farmers in the area, as farmers on many occasions accused the herders’ of destroying their farms by letting cows graze on them.

Following the quit notice issued by Igboho, and the attack on Fulani settlement in Ibarapa, both the governor of the state, Seyi Makinde, and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu had ordered for his arrest.

20 Die In Delta Gas Explosion, Houses, Properties Worth Millions Destroyed.

20 Die In Delta Gas Explosion, Houses, Properties Worth Millions Destroyed.

SaharaReporters revealed that the incident, which occurred Friday evening, also left several persons with life-threatening degrees of body burns.

No fewer than 20 persons died while houses and properties were burnt to ashes following a gas explosion at Osadebe Gas plant in Agbor, the headquarters of the Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.

SaharaReporters learnt that the incident, which occurred Friday evening, also left several persons with life-threatening degrees of body burns.

The victims are currently receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Asaba and the University Of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State.

Speaking with our correspondent, an eyewitness disclosed that there was a fire outbreak at the Osadebe Gas plant along the Benin Asaba expressway, adding that as the inferno raged, persons and houses around the vicinity were caught up and burnt to ashes – some beyond recognition.

“The situation was terrible and beyond everyone. Before our eyes, people and houses were being roasted like animals. However, some of the victims we rescued died on the way as they were being taken to the Central Hospital, Agbor, while the fire service people were also on the ground.

“Some of the victims who were successfully taken to the Central Hospital, Agbor lost their lives because there were no doctors and nurses to attend to them. It was a black Friday for us As we talk, some of the victims that were later rushed to the hospital are being attended to now, but no one has been able to know the actual cause of the explosion.”

The state Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, the Secretary to the State Government, Chiedu Ebie, and the member representing the Ika South constituency in the state House of Assembly, Festus Okoh, and other top government functionaries have visited the scene of the incident as well as the hospitals to see some of the victims.

Chidinma Onah vs Esther: 18-year-old boy set on fire by his jealous girlfriend

An eighteen (18) years old girl, Esther from Ado Local Government Area of Benue state, in the early hours of Monday, 11th January, 2021, burnt her boy friend, Elvis Chidinma Onah from Nsuka local Government Area of Enugu State to death in Makurdi.

Chidinma, a patent medicine dealer who just returned from Christmas and New Year holiday last Saturday had been in the village since on Wednesday, 23rd December, 2020.

Trouble started shortly after Esther was told by her friends that Chidinma travelled to his village to pay a pride price of another girl he intended to marry, an allegation he vehemently denied when he was confronted by Esther but she was not satisfied with his answer.

Consequently, Esther went to an unknown filling station with a gallon on Sunday evening and filled it with premium motor spirit (PMS) commonly known as petrol in line with her undisclosed plan to burn Chidinma.

Esther came to his house in the early hours of Sunday, stayed with him and pretended as if all was well. They ate foods and played together throughout the night until both of them fell asleep.

She then woke up few minutes after 2am and went straight to where she kept the fuel opposite Chidinma’s house, brought it to the room, poured the fuel round the room right inside while Chidinma was still sleeping. She ignited the room with matches and ran away immediately.

Few minutes later, some tenants living in the compound came out, shouting and pouring water into the room in an attempt to extinguish the fire.

As the inferno was subsiding, Chidinma who was burnt beyond recognition, managed to come out, shouting that Esther has killed him and was quickly rushed to Federal Medical Centre Apir, Makurdi.

While giving details of the tragic event, an eyewitness and a neighbour to the deceased, Rose Stephen said, they were perceiving smell and sound of fire around 2am on Monday, they came out and discovered that it was Chidinma’s room that was burning. They did all they could but couldn’t stop the fire from burning him.

She further said, both of them were having issues and were always going to police station in 2020, adding that Chidinma told Esther that he was fed up with her bad characters and was no longer interested in her before he travelled for Christmas and New year.

Rose said she was surprised seeing them together shortly after Chidinma’s return from the village from Saturday till on Sunday.

Corroborating the story, another eyewitness and one of the closest friends to the deceased, Abraham Ebute said, Chidinma clearly told Esther he was no longer interested in the relationship with her because of her unruly behaviour and criminal tendency, saying Chidinma was once arrested because she stole a handset belonging to an Air force officer and was traced to Chidinma’s house.

Ebute added that, Esther also stole Chidi’s phone before he travelled home and promised returning it to him after his arrival, not knowing that her plan was to kill him.

He said, he rushed to Chidinma’s house along with his other friends as smoke was going off and cry from neighborhoods only to discover that he was burnt to an unimaginable level, pray to God to receive him in His bosom.

When contacted, the Police Public Relationship Officer, PPRO, Benue State Police Command, Catherine Anene confirmed the tragic incident and the eventual arrest of the culprit, Esther, saying she was in their custody while investigation is still ongoing to unravel the ugly situation.

Chidinma was confirmed dead today, Tuesday, 12th January, 2021 and plan was on the way to convey his corpse to Nsuka by his parents who were already in Makurdi as at the time of filing this report.

Fire guts Jos Electricity Distribution Company’s office

Fire broke out last night at the head office of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company on Ahmadu Bello Way, Jos, Plateau State.

The fire started from the top floor of the seven storey building at about 6 PM .

The Director, Communication and Media  Affairs of the company, Dr Friday Elijah confirmed the incident in a telephone interview.

“It is a fire incident, and as  I’m talking to you the fire brigade have battled it, and we are yet to ascertain the extent of damage, it has been controlled,” he said.

Jos Electricity Distribution, a Public Liability Company (JED Plc) is one of the 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) Privatized by the Federal Government of Nigeria in pursuant to the Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 which led to the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as a Government owned power utility company. JED Plc took over operations on November 1st, 2013 with the mandate to be the first-choice provider of quality electricity.

With its Headquarters in Jos, Plateau state, JED PLC is an indigenous electricity Company incorporated in Nigeria to carry out the business of electricity distribution and retail sale in the regions of Plateau, Gombe, Bauchi and Benue States.

JED PLC operates one of the longest distribution networks in the country. It spreads across a geographical span of 152, 901 KM2 and caters to over Four Hundred Thousand (400,000) customers.

Property worth over a million razed by fire in Osun

Property worth millions of Naira was destroyed as fire razed three shops in Osogbo, on Monday.

The fire, which was said to have been caused by power surge engulfed a shopping complex at Orita Aje, around Testing Ground, the state capital of Osun.

One of the shop owners, identified as Akande, who spoke with newsmen, disclosed that the fire which lasted for about 45 minutes started at a computer accessories shop.

He noted that the intervention of the firefighters prevented the fire from gutting the whole shopping complex.

The Administrative Officer of the Osun Fire Fighters, Mr. Fatai Aremu, said Items worth over N1.2m were destroyed in the fire that was believed to have been caused by power surge.

He said: “Four of the shops were completely burnt before the arrival of men of the Fire Service, while the rest were partially affected by the fire. Properties lost to the incident is worth N1.2 million.”

“Our investigation into the incident is still ongoing,” he concluded.

Amazing!!! Parrot saves Australian man from fire.

blue and yellow macaw perched on twig

Pet parrot saves Australian man from house fire

Anton Nguyen with his green parrot, Eric, stands outside his home in front of a fire truck
image captionAnton Nguyen with his parrot, Eric, after fleeing his house

An Australian man says he was able to survive a late-night house fire after his pet parrot roused him from bed.

Anton Nguyen had been fast asleep when his two-storey house caught alight in Brisbane, Queensland, on Wednesday.

“I heard a bang and Eric – my parrot – he started to yell so I woke up and I smelled a bit of smoke,” he told ABC.

“I grabbed Eric, opened the door and looked to the back of the house and saw some flames… and so I took off and bolted downstairs.”

By the time firefighters arrived at about 01:00 local time (14:00 GMT Tuesday), the house was engulfed in flames.

It took four crews over an hour to contain the blaze in the suburb of Kangaroo Point.

Mr Nguyen, who lives alone, said he had escaped with the bird and a bag, and suffered no injuries.

The green parrot had repeatedly squawked “Anton” to raise the alarm, said Queensland Fire and Emergency Services inspector Cameron Thomas.

“There were smoke detectors [but] the bird alerted before the smoke detectors went off,” he said.

The cause of the blaze is unknown and remains under investigation.