MIRACLE?: Prayer house fails to burn in the midst of raging inferno

The last may not have been heard about the tanker fire which wreaked monumental havoc along Wilmer/Kirikiri road in Apapa area of Lagos State on Wednesday. The Nation’s investigation revealed that a building in the midst of the rubble of charred buildings was mysteriously not consumed by the raging inferno.

The building, it was gathered, is used for prayer meeting by the traders. It also serves the secretariat of the traders’ union. It stood in between a long stretch of buildings which were consumed by the fire but inexplicably escaped the wrath of the furious conflagration.

Ben Mbachu, who has a shop on the ground floor of the building, was speechless when our correspondent visited the premises. “My goods are intact” was his sudden outburst when our correspondent approached him for comment.

He said: “I have been doing business here for the past 20 years. The shops in this axis got burnt but this one did not. My goods were not burnt. They are intact. It is miraculous and I believe it was the Lord’s doing. It is a miracle that the fire passed over this building to consume other buildings. Traders used to hold their prayers here. The traders’ union members rented the first floor and gave it out to people who hold prayer sessions here.”

It was, however, not a victory song for him all the way. His second shop located in another building was burnt. “The goods that I stored in a shop located in another building were burnt. There is no public toilet here so the owner of the building and I agreed that I should create one. I have been working on it for some time now and have spent over N450, 000 so far on it. I have also been using it as a store each time I brought goods into the country. I had already fixed the tiles and was planning to open it to the public very soon before this incident occurred,” he narrated.

Findings showed that some of the victims, were still enjoying the Yuletide break in their various home towns when they received heart-rending calls that their shops were on fire. John Anyanwu, a victim, said he had to abort his holiday and rushed down to Lagos to see the calamity that had befallen his means of livelihood. “I was in my home town when I got a call from a friend that our business place was on fire. Immediately I got the call, I boarded the next available Lagos-bound bus and came here immediately I arrived Lagos State. When I got here, what I saw was unbelievable. Everywhere was on fire. We lost goods worth millions of naira.

“I never had premonitions that such would happen. It is just unfortunate. I stocked my shop with the hope of selling them after returning from the Yuletide break but as you can see, they are burnt. I am going to sell them off as scraps. I can’t really quantify the loss that I suffered until I take time to check my stock. From what I have seen so far, I have lost millions of naira. I am only begging God to restore me to my former position because I know how I started. I was worth over N10 million before the incident but from what is on the ground right now, I don’t think I would worth more than N700, 000 now.

“We would appreciate if the government could come to our aid by helping us to put the place back in order and allow us to continue to occupy the shops we have always used for our business,” he said.

Augustine Eze, another victim, also cut short his holiday in his home town to see the setback that the fire disaster had caused him. He said: “I have been doing business in this place for the past five years. I was in my village when I got a call that my shop was on fire. I was planning to come back this weekend but I hurriedly left to see things by myself. The value of what I lost to the inferno is worth about N1.2 million.

“I was crest-fallen when I got the call. I was planning to pay my children’s school fees but with this incident, it has become impossible. I could not even give them money to eat because my only source of earning a living has been consumed by fire. I don’t even have ordinary N50 on me as I am talking to you. My wife and my children were in tears when they came here this morning because they saw that our source of livelihood was gone. It was some friends that helped me with some money to provide food for them. I will appreciate if I could get some financial assistance to start afresh.”

Segun Martins travels from Ogun State to the affected area to do his business on a daily basis. His shop was not spared by the fire. He told our correspondent that he had a sleepless night when he got the news of the incident late in the night on Wednesday. Still dazed by the ugly development, he spoke about his losses: “I have been trading here for the past 35 years. I was at home when the call came that our shops were on fire. I couldn’t come immediately because I live in Ogun State. I do come from Ogun State on a daily basis to do business here. I couldn’t sleep all night when I received the call. When I came the following morning, I found that everything, including the money I had in the shop, had been razed by the fire.”

The story was not different for Jones Ogbonna Nwanni, who began to trade in the area since 1995 aside from his long years of apprenticeship that he commenced in 1987. He bemoaned his fate wondering why such would befall him. “I was in my house when the incident occurred. I was alerted about it by friends. Immediately I got the call, I came down immediately with my boys. We could not do anything when we came. We just stood by the road helplessly and watched the fire consume our,” he recounted.

Apparently trying to recoup some money from the burnt wares, he was seen selling them off at a paltry sum to scavengers. “Right now, we are selling off the burnt goods as scraps. I have been selling some goods that we used to sell at about N50, 000 for a paltry sum of N500. Any goods sold for N5, 000 before the incident would not even attract any money as scrap. The only thing you can do with such is to dash it out. I got some of these burnt goods on credit from abroad. I got some of them from Turkey and Dubai. They are worth about N10million and they are all gone. I will explain what happened to my creditors and ask them o give me time to sort things out. If they are in doubt, they can come to the country and see things with their eyes. We can equally take pictures and send to them.

“We would be glad if the government can provide us with a land so that we can have a permanent site just like auto parts traders in Trade Fair. We would appreciate if the government could help us in this regard. I cannot quantify the loss we suffered. I travelled home and came back on January 2 to start business so as to get money to pay school fees and shop rent but all we saw now is a lot of losses. The damage is beyond explanation. My children are resuming to school on Monday. I want the government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to our aid.”

The disaster, according to Chibuzo Nwaora, is a great set back. He said: “I have been doing business in this area for the past 20 years. It was neighbours in the area who called to inform me about it. I can’t tell you straight away the magnitude of the loss that I suffered until I check through what was lost and what is left. All I can say is that it is a big loss. I have resorted to selling the burnt ones as scraps. There are some goods that I was selling N500, 000 that I sold off as scrap for as low as N3, 000. I am not married yet. I am only planning to get married. The incident has no doubt affected our plans for the year. As you can see, we have been asked to pack our goods out of the building.”

Naomi Dickson, an eye witness, said the sight of the incident was akin to animals being roasted. “The incident occurred around 10: 30 pm. When the trailer’s break failed, the driver in an attempt to swerve out of danger, rammed into a suya seller. Before then, the petroleum product it was carrying had spilled all over. This caused it to catch fire immediately it rammed into the suya seller. The tanker driver and his bus conductors together with the suya seller and those who were buying suya from him at that point in time were burn to ashes.

“Some Hausa orange sellers and other petty traders within the vicinity were also burnt. Some passengers in commercial buses were also burnt. I saw for the first time in my life how human beings were roasted like animals. It was a gory and pathetic sight that I never pray to witness in my life again,” she said.