‘I have accepted my fate’, says man who lost wife, 5 children in Borno fire

The family went to sleep on the night of Thursday November 11 November like any other day not knowing that death was lurking around. In the early hours of Friday the six members of the family were all burnt to death inside their building in  Ruwan-safi area of Maiduguri. Just four days to the Sallah […]

The family went to sleep on the night of Thursday November 11 November like any other day not knowing that death was lurking around. In the early hours of Friday the six members of the family were all burnt to death inside their building in  Ruwan-safi area of Maiduguri.

Just four days to the Sallah celebration, perhaps the family might have been thinking of how to celebrate the feast but that dream was cut short by the fire incident.

The pregnant wife of Dungus, Kanem Trust gathered, had put on an incense burner (Turaren Wuta) before going to sleep with her children and the embers from the incense burner fell on the floor of the sitting room, starting a fire that spread to other rooms including the one where the family members were sleeping.

Jubril Yunusa, an elder brother to the woman’s husband, while recounting the incident to Kanem Trust, said the fire started around 12:30 am and engulfed six rooms in the compound.

“It happened around 12:30 midnight when we were all asleep and we tried to save them but before we could break the iron on the door, the fire had already engulfed the entire living room and spread to other rooms,” he said.

“We lost everything to the fire incident all we are praying is for almighty Allah to grant the deceased alijanaa firdaos,” he added.

When our reporter visited the family during the seventh day prayer for the dead persons, the mood was still sombre. Dungus, surrounded by many sympathizers, told Kanem Trust that he has accepted the incident as an act of Allah. He was away at the house of his second wife on the night of the incident.

“When Allah wanted to give them to me, I was not notified and when he decided to take them away from me, He did not notify me. I have accepted it as an act from almighty Allah and I thank those who stood by me during the trying period,” he said.