known in the Mafoluku area of Lagos easily attracted attention not
necessarily because of its appearance or size but due to the fact that
it was one of the oldest buildings in the area. Indeed, it was
considered a kind of landmark.
In the expansive compound were two buildings: the one at the rear was
home to four tenants, while the other one was occupied by the
landlord, Pa T. Adamiloye and his entire family. That was the case
until Monday August 11, 2014, when fire gutted the house, throwing all
the families living there into mourning and rendered them homeless.
It was particularly more tragic for Mr and Mrs Patrick, who for 14
years were occupants of a two-bedroom flat there. The tragic incident
of that fateful Monday sent two of their children to their early
graves.
Mr. Patrick and his wife, as gathered, had early in the morning of
that fateful day left home for their respective places of work,
leaving one of their children, Ada, to take charge of their flat. Ada,
a mother of two, one a seven months old and another a two-year-old,
had in addition to her own children been looking after her
two-year-old nephew left in her care by the grand parents.
After feeding the kids and taking them to bed at about 8pm, Ada had
lit a candle and locked up the flat. She reportedly left the house in
the company of her friends.
According to a neighbour, Madam Seeke Adamolekun, Ada was relaxing
with her friends at a spot near the bus-stop when an alarm was raised
that ''a building on Salami street is on fire''. Ada was said to have
left her friends to go and see what was happening. On getting home,
she discovered sympathisers had filled up her compound with some of
them helping to salvage some belongings, while others were ransacking
the buildings.
That was when it dawned on her that the candle she lit and left in the
flat had set the entire building on fire and spread to other
apartments. The top floor of the building was razed, particularly the
two-bedroom flat on the top floor housing the deceased children and
their family.
It was later gathered from sympathisers that the seven months old
child was rescued by a ten-year-old boy who found his way into the
flat through an opening. Unfortunately, the brave chap, who sustained
a minor injury, could not rescue the two-year-old kids as the fire
escalated before he could do so. However, the boy was able to raise
the alarm which attracted other neighbours to the scene before a call
was put across the State fire services.
When Vanguard correspondents arrived the compound, some of the
occupants of the compound were busy lamenting the death of the two
kids and the fact that they have been rendered homeless. Meantime, the
affected building had been put under lock and key by officials of the
local council who also instructed the occupants to find alternative
accommodations.
A teenager, perceived to be the landlord's son, also joined in
appealing to the tenants to take the situation in good faith. ''Daddy
has decided to leave everything to God. Meanwhile, I appeal to you all
to find an alternative accommodation till the building will be
fixed...''.
One of the occupants, a septuagenarian, who simply gave her name as
Madam Gladys, said she arrived home that Monday, after being away for
three months visiting one of her children who gave birth in May. ''I
arrived yesterday and was very tired. I was fast asleep when I heard a
distress call. Immediately, I called my daughter who assured me the
situation would soon be under control. But before you knew it, street
urchins had taken advantage of the situation to steal some of my
belongings,'' she said.
An occupant at the compound who pleaded anonymity said the Patricks
were members of a popular pentecostal church at Ijesha and blamed
"their care free attitude" for the tragedy. ''Why on earth did she
lock up the flat after lighting a candle? It was her carefree attitude
that caused the death of those kids,'' he lamented.
Director, Lagos State Fire Services, Razaq Fadipe, confirmed the
development toVanguard Metro,adding that the fire service was not
called on time to put out the fire.
"We got a distress call around 8:38p.m. that Monday and when we got
there, we discovered that it was a storey building that was on fire.
The top floor has a two-bedroom apartment and four single rooms, while
the ground floor has a two-bedroom and six single rooms. They did not
call us on time, that is as soon as the fire started," he said.
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