Fire kills five children of same family in Lagos

• Man burns to death at girlfriend’s house in Rivers
• Another woman strangled to death in hotel room

Five children were killed after their home caught fire in Abagbo Village, Takwa Bay area of Lagos Island, the police said yesterday. The children identified as Folake Ogundiya, aged 13, her eight-year-old sibling, Abigail; Daniel Bakare, aged six; Chidima Achomye; Nnamdi Achomye, aged two and one-year-old Khadijat were reportedly burnt beyond recognition in the incident that occurred on Tuesday evening.

According to a statement released yesterday by the police spokesman, Bala Elkana, the children were locked inside the house by one Suliat, in whose care their mother, Florence Asoye, left them. Elkana said Asoye reported the incident at about 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, adding that the said Suliat was nowhere to be found.

“The five children are from the same family. The woman said she left them in the care of the said Suliat at about 6:30 p.m. so she could go to Takwa Bay jetty. She said by the time she returned, her home was completely burnt down and the said Suliat locked them in the room and left to an unknown destination,” he said.

The tragedy also struck in Oginigba community, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, at the weekend as a middle-aged man was burnt to death at his girlfriend’s house. The Guardian gathered that the yet-to-be-identified lover man visited his girlfriend and slept off in her room when suddenly, a fire ignited from a boiling ring plugged to a wall socket.

It was learnt that one of the residents, who plugged the heater, forgot to unplug it, locked his door and went out. Residents of the burnt building who witnessed the incident said when the fire started, they alerted the dead victim but regretted that he was reluctant and never made effort to step out of the house nor help put out the fire. When the girlfriend who was busy removing property saw that her lover was burnt in the inferno, she fled to an unknown destination.
 
Meanwhile, other victims of the Oginigba fire have lamented that the inferno destroyed their property worth millions of naira. Confirming the incident, a victim whose house and shop was razed down, Mrs. Grace Inyang, said the fire was caused by boiling heater plugged to electric wall socket. 

The paramount ruler of the community, Eze Bekwele Odum, added that the state fire service he contacted refused to come to the area on the excuse that their vehicle cannot ply the route to the building, which is located at the waterfront. Eze Odum, however, commended the efforts of the youths in putting off the fire and help stop its spread. 

In another development, Elkana said the Lagos police command was investigating the death of a female lodger in the Southbound Hotel, Morogbo, Badagry area of the state. The deceased, simply identified as Jessica, was found dead in the hotel at about 2:00p.m. on Friday with marks suggestive of strangulation and bloodstains.

Elkana said the police received information about a dead lodger and homicide detectives visited the scene and evacuated the body. “Body of the deceased was found on the bed facing up, with a swollen face and foam-like fluid out of her mouth. Her throat was knotted with clothes suggesting that she might have been strangled.

“There were bloodstains all over the place. The body was evacuated to the mortuary for autopsy while the scene was preserved for forensic analysis.

The Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, has ordered the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba to take over the investigation,” he added.

It would be recalled that three similar incidents were recorded in the last two weeks. The Rivers State police command is on the trail of the boyfriend of one Precious Maureen Ewuru who was discovered dead in one of the hotel rooms in D/line Hotel, Port Harcourt, Rivers State earlier this month.

Some days later, a yet-to-be-identified lady was found dead underneath a hotel bed in Owerri, the capital of Imo State at a popular hotel along World Bank Road in Owerri. The lady was found naked by a cleaner under the hotel bed without a means of identification.

The police disclosed that investigations have commenced to fish out the killer though the force is having difficulty identifying the lady, as the killer fled with her belongings, including her clothes and underwear.

Also last week, another unidentified girl was found dead in a hotel in the Amukpe area of Sapele, Delta State after a tryst with her partner. It was gathered that the deceased had lodged in the hotel on Wednesday with a male partner. However, some of the hotel workers suspected a foul play when they caught the unnamed boyfriend trying to check out of the hotel alone.