‘After fire disaster my life is not the same again’

Well, it started like a melodrama because I travelled to the village to see my people in Udi, and I came back. I was so tired. What happened was so unusual of me because normally I am the last person who goes to bed in my house. But because I was fagged out because of […]

Well, it started like a melodrama because I travelled to the village to see my people in Udi, and I came back. I was so tired. What happened was so unusual of me because normally I am the last person who goes to bed in my house. But because I was fagged out because of the journey and the attendant activities that followed it in the village, I was so weak when I came back, so I had to sleep before every other person in the house.

But just about 12-mid-night, say, between 11.30 and 12-midnight, in the early hours of this Sunday, as I was sleeping in my bedroom, I heard an explosion. Apparently, it came from one of the gadgets that were burning in my parlour. In fact, it was that explosion that woke me up because I was deep asleep.

Unsuspectingly, I woke up and rushed to the parlour and I saw a massive fire and smoke mixed up. In fact, the fumes entered my mouth and I nearly suffocated. I ran back to the bedroom and then within two minutes, I was confused because I was gasping for breath as a result of the fumes I inhaled.

I tried to come to the parlour again, it was worse and I knew that it was like embarking on a suicide mission to continue entering the parlour or try to make any attempt to leave the place or whatever.

I then had to break the connecting door to the other room, and behold every member of my family was sleeping; six of us were inside. Then I started shouting and I woke them up. All of them woke up and didn’t know what was happening. They were all confused. Any of them who came to the parlor would see the same nightmare and then quickly rushed back.

Then all of us gathered in the kitchen because then the fire was still very terrible in the parlour. So we decided what to do. Luckily, for us, one of the windows had no burglar proof; the other windows had but that particular one didn’t have. And this thing was happening from the second floor of the house. So we had to take a very hard decision, either to remain in the flat and die or try to escape and survive or get injured or even die; because for somebody to jump from a second floor of a building is also like embarking on a suicide mission. But we felt that could be better than for somebody to watch himself roasted alive.

So we took the decision that we had to jump. Luckly for us, there is one small shop that was attached to the building where somebody sells fairly used clothes. And that platform had a small tarpaulin and rods. And that was the saving grace because we had to land first on that tarpaulin, before landing again on the ground proper. So it was a double journey.

In a local parlance, they say when an egg breaks kernel, the stone feels ashamed. So my 19-year-old niece took the first leap, took up, landed and stood up. Nothing happened to her. Then her friend who visited her; she was on holiday and of almost the same age took the second leap. Then my fiancée followed; then my little niece who also came on holiday, a 12-year-old girl had to go on. She first asked me, ‘uncle, do I jump?’ and I said yes, jump! She jumped.

So I was now left alone in the flat. By then the smoke that was emanating from the parlour was getting close to the kitchen and the corridor. I now had to take the same decision but because the widow was very small, it was difficult for me to come out first through the window because of my size. But when I managed to come out, I didn’t know how it happened and I had to sit on the window slab because there was a slab on the window that was meant to prevent water or sunray, and I had to sit on it.

Then two young men climbed to the roof of their shops and assured me they were there to assist me, and said I should jump. I jumped and they managed to hold me and then three of us now landed together for the second time on the ground.

So it was a very traumatic experience; I’ve never seen a thing like that but I still maintain that God didn’t want us to die; it was a miracle because if it were a normal situation, I wouldn’t have taken the decision to jump from that height – the last floor of a 2-storey building.

Then of course among all the people who jumped, my niece, Ifeoma had ankle dislocation. And my little niece also had a dislocation on her left elbow. Then my problem was that I’m older and I used to have this waist pain. So my ‘safe-landing’ increased the waist pain, and I had some bruises on my lap and hands.

Did the official fire fighters play any role in extinguishing the fire?

I must tell you that the fire fighters – I was misquoted in the media that I was commending the fire fighters; they came at the eleventh hour. And by the time they came, my entire flat had been razed by fire, and everything I had laboured for; everything I had gotten in this world; in terms of property; in terms of certificates or vital documents; I lost all. I think what the fire men succeeded in doing was stopping the fire from extending to other buildings in the place.

But if I tell you that they came on time, is not true; they came very late and it was locking the stable door after the horse had been stolen. There was nothing they could recover from my flat. I lost my phones containing all my contacts and that was why for four days nobody could get in touch with me; I was incommunicado.

Is there any lesson to learn from this type of tragedy?

A lot of lessons; one, I had my blood relations who stayed in the house with me. Then I had visitors, and nobody was envisaging any tragedy. But suppose anything happened to the visitors who came to my house, how would I explain it? And these other relatives of mine who were staying with me; if anything had happened to them, what would I do, or that I was not in the house when this thing happened, all of them would have been burnt alive. But I think this time; I have learnt to reduce the number of visitors that come to my house. In fact, if we were only two persons when the fire outbreak occurred, the crisis would have been easier to manage. But if we were six, it was more difficult, even with a little kid who came for holidays; that one is even the most astonishing aspect of it, to me; a 12-year-old girl jumping from the second floor only to have a little dislocation.

Also, I have learnt the lesson of intensifying prayers; I should draw closer to God. I know I pray. I know I go to church. I know I worship God but I think I have to intensify prayers; I have to draw nearer to God, and also see myself as an instrument of God. If I were to be judged by my way of life, I don’t even deserve what God has done for me. I believe that God kept me alive with members of my family because He still wants to make use of us. If it is on my own personal merit, I don’t think I would have been alive with my family members who came out unhurt.