23032019 - Osun Gov Poll: Court nullifies APC’s victory

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20—SATURDAY Vanguard, MARCH 23, 2019 How mystery fire killed pregnant woman, her two children in Okija By Vincent Ujumadu THE inhabitants of sleepy village of Umuofor, Okija in Ihilala local government area of Anambra State were jolted on Wednesday when they observed a raging fire had engulfed a building belonging to Mr. Maxwell Okeke popularly known as Dike Igbo. The incident happened around 8.00pm when most families were busy preparing their dinner at the end of the day’s business. The mystery fire killed Mrs. Nwazuru Okeke and her two children, Chidiebube and Makuochukwu, while the neighbours watched helplessly as they could not do much to assist them. Mrs. Okeke was three months pregnant, while her two children were two years and one year respectively. When the people noticed the fire from the building, they prayed that there was nobody inside the house, but their prayer turned to lamentation as three human bodied burnt beyond recognition were seen on the corner of one of the bedrooms. However, questions were being asked as to the cause of the fire. Mr. Okechukwu Nnajiofor, who lives in the neighbourhood said although it was suspected that the fire might have spread from the cooking which the late Nwazuru was cooking with before the incident, it was observed that the stove was not even burnt, while almost everything in the house was burnt to ashes. Nnajiofo said. “The stove was suspected to have caused the fire, but the stove did not get burnt. Again, there were escape routes which the woman should have run away from with her children, but the woman and her children did not use them. The room where they were found dead was open, yet she was unable to run out with the children. Rather they were found burnt beyond recognition on one corner of one of the bedrooms, which was also open when people got into the house after the incident.” According to Nnajiofor, people were just pouring sand and water on the burning house, which did not yield any good result and the fire only stopped after doing the damage. When people got into the house after the fire incident, it appeared as if the woman and her children were pinned down on a spot such that they were unable to run out of the house. Another eye witness, Mr. Ikechukwu Dike said it was a pitiable sight when the three bodies were seen already dead in one of the bedrooms in the house after the fire was put out. Already, some people in the area were suspecting foul play, wondering why the woman could not run out of the house when escape routes were available for her. “It took the neighbours a long time to quench the fire because of its intensity, coupled with the fact that the people used only water and sand in their attempt to rescue the situation,” Dike said. He observed that in an ideal society, every local government area headquarter and big towns like Okija, are supposed to have fire service stations for prompt and rapid response to a situation like this, regretting that the federal, state and local governments appear not to care about the life of the citizens Meanwhile, the Anambra State police command has already swung into action to get to the root of the mystery fire incident. Police public relations officer, PPRO, Mr. Mohammed Haruna, who reacted on the Okija incident, said the police was already investigating the cause of the fire. He said: “Yes, there was a fire incident at Umuofor village, Okija at the residence of one Maxwell Okeke. As a result, his pregnant wife named Nwazuru Okeke, two children namely Chidiebube Okeke aged two years and Makuochukwu Okeke, aged one year, were trapped in the inferno and burnt beyond recognition. “Police detectives attached to Okija Division visited the scene and the fire was put off with the assistance of local volunteers in the area. Cause of the fire is yet unknown, but the Commissioner of Police, CP Rabiu Ladodo, has ordered for a full scale investigation to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the incident.” Pix: Chidiebube and Makuochukwu killed along with their mother during the fire incident that burnt their house at Okija, Anambra State. My three days in coma - Kaduna Preacher By Ben Agande, Kaduna. or Engineer Kingsley Okafor, Kaduna Fstate evokes a lot of emotions because of the strategic place it occupies in his heart. But the mention of the name Kaduna also sends shivers down his spine because it is one town that he almost lost his life because of his passion, ministering to those he calls lost souls in prisons and police stations across the city. While he looks back at the city with satisfaction that he was able to win souls for his faith, Christianity, he almost lost his life by the very fact that he was determined to win souls for Christ. According to him, it all began while he was working on a project in the proposed National College of Petroleum Studies Kaduna(NCPSK) located behind trade fair at the northern part of the city. While he was working on the project, he also devoted his spare time to visiting the prisons and police stations to preach to inmates. In doing so, he did not discriminate whether those he was preaching to were Muslims, Christians or atheists. He just wanted to lead them to Christ. But that was the beginning of his problems with some unnamed persons who saw his evangelism as sacrilegious. He explained that after receiving subtle threats from unknown persons, he almost lost his life when he was trailed to his House in Barnawa area of the town and was almost killed through carbon monoxide poisoning. He told weekend Vanguard: ‘I could only recount what happened after the gas attack with carbon-mono-oxide from electricity generating set in my then residence. I knew that I slept in my flat and woke up in the hospital about three (3) days after. As a matter of fact, when I woke up, I thought I was still on my bed but I realised I had medical equipment fixed all over me and people gathered around me on the hospital bed telling me to calm down that I would soon be alright. That was when I realized that something wrong must have happened to me. ‘What happened was that, essentially the attackers wanted to kill me in the most silent way possible. The Generating set outside my house was moved and repositioned to supply smokes and fumes directly into my room when I was already sleeping. I lived alone in the flat. So, the gas attack occurred while I had already slept. It took the effort of my workers and that of one pastor Moses Adebowale of Mountain of Fire and miracles ministries Kaduna Branch at that time to break my flat open when they could not see me and took me to the hospital. Because of the inhalation of carbon monoxide fumes, I became unconscious and was in coma; I regained my consciousness in the hospital after about three days’ he said. Though he claimed that he had a faint idea where the attack, may have come from, it became obvious to him when he moved out of Kaduna to Abuja but continued with his prison ministration to win prisoners over to Christianity. ‘It became apparent to me that I was being targeted when I moved to Abuja and realized that there were people trailing me and my family. I received anonymous calls warning me not to continue the work of preaching to prison inmates. I was told that some of the prison inmates who were Muslims got converted to Christianity during my preaching. That was my sin for which those self appointed faith police felt I should not live. ‘What made it even scarier for me was the fact that the threat extended to my wife who was a teacher in a government school in Abuja. They knew me and my family members and seem to know my every move. I did not know them and they warned me not to report to the security services. I was scared still for my life and that of my family members. The callers kept on telling me that they would not harm me or members of my family provided I stopped preaching and converting people to Christianity’ Engineer Okafor said that though he valued his life and those of his family, members, he had a calling to minister to prison inmates and cannot stop doing so. ‘I am torn between obeying God’s calling and protecting my life and those of my family. For now, I have been forced into hiding with my family members but I still have a strong feeling to continue my prison ministration. I was forced out of Kaduna because of my faith but I will one day continue doing what God has called me to do. The lord that has asked me to do this will certainly protect me.
SATURDAY Vanguard, MARCH 23, 2019—21 •Continues on page 22
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23032019 - Osun Gov Poll: Court nullifies APC’s victory

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