The 35-year-old mother of the six children who were roasted alive in their one-room apartment allegedly set ablaze by the jilted boyfriend of her junior sister, Deji Adenuga, in Igbodigo in Okitipupa council area of Ondo State, said she escaped death by the whiskers in the early morning arson.
Were it not that l left the room to answer the call of nature few minutes before the arsonist came and set the room on fire, l would have died along with my sick husband and the six children”, Jumoke told Sunday Vanguard.
Aside the six children, four boys and two girls, namely, Adebayo, Joy, Mercy, Johnson, Adesewa and Temidayo, Jumoke’s husband, who had been down with stroke, and a visiting child were killed in the arson. The suspected arsonist, a 45-year-old palm wine tapper, said to have been jilted by Titi, set the room in which nine family members were in deep sleep on fire at about 2am, thereby roasting eight of them alive.
He said he purchased N500 worth of petrol purposely to burn the two sisters, Jumoke and Titi, and not others who slept in the room that night. Ironically, the two sisters, who were the targets of the assailant because, according to him, they had turned him to their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and wanted to dump him, survived the arson.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard in Igbokoda where she is staying with one of her relations, Jumoke said her life had crashed and she was in serious pains.
“Since the tragedy occurred, my life has become empty. But all l want is that justice is done to this killer”, she told Sunday Vanguard
Narrating what happened on the ill-fated day, the arson survivor said, “The incident happened around 2am. I woke up to use the toilet and I suddenly heard a sound at the back of the door. “He must have poured the petrol inside the house while we were sleeping.
“l was still in the toilet when suddenly l heard the sound like a bomb in the room with heavy smoke coming out. The sound woke neighbours but, before long, all the occupants of the one-room apartment had burnt beyond recognition, mostly my children, who could not help themselves from the fire and the smoke at the same time. “I quickly ran to open the door for my sister whose head was already on fire.
I pulled the mats on which the children were sleeping and they rolled to the door. I started throwing out the children. It was in the process that I was affected by the fire. I lost all my six children, my husband and one of my junior sister’s children.
“I need justice in this matter. The man must not be allowed to go away with what he has done to ruin my life”.
The arson suspect, who was arrested in ljebu-Ode, Ogun State, five days after he allegedly committed the heinous crime, had said he was infuriated because Titi aborted the four-month-old pregnancy she was carrying for him without his consent and that she had refused to return the N55, 000 he kept with her.
Ondo State Police Commissioner, Adie Udie, alleged that Deji was an ex- convict who murdered his first wife, Aboye Akinola, in year 2000 with a knife, detained on the grounds of the alleged crime pending trial but escaped during a jailbreak at the Olokuta Prison, Akure, the state capital.
Titi and her sister, Jumoke, were fond of taking advantage of our relationship to dupe me”, he had said. “Each time we had a misunderstanding, she would move to her sister’s place until I could provide money to settle the sister and my girlfriend. I was angry because she aborted my four-month old pregnancy and failed to return my money to me. The money was N55, 000“
Jumoke, when confronted with the suspect’s allegations by Sunday Vanguard, denied. Her words, “I don’t know the man. I don’t know what led to the incident. It is still a mystery.
My sister came to me and she didn’t tell me anything about her disagreement with the man. She slept in my house and the man came to pour petrol on us.
tIt is true she was befriending the man. I was not aware of the money he said he gave to my sister. He told lies against me.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
