Horror as woman sets mate and 3 kids ablaze

Thick dark cloud pervaded the sleepy community of Achara-Unuhu in Abakaliki Local Government area of Ebonyi State Monday following the death of a nursing mother with three of her children in a strange fire outbreak that gutted their residence while they were asleep. The incident, which


the deceased’s co-wife is said to be a suspect, also consumed all domestic animals within the compound. Only the victim, Mrs. Chinyere Ogbonna Nwaokpuru, and her suckling baby were said to have died instantly in the inferno, while her two other kids who were rushed to the hospital following serious injuries they sustained, died shortly after. But for the timely intervention of security personnel, the unfortunate development nearly culminated in a communal feud between Izzi and Ezza people, as the victim was said to be from a neighbouring Ezza but married as second wife to an Achara-Unuhu man of Izzi clan. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr John Eluu, an assistant superintendent of police (ASP), confirmed the incident and said the command would ensure that whoever that is responsible for the incident is apprehended and made to face the full weight of the law. Checks revealed that the victim and her three kids had gone to bed, hale and hearty the previous night after taking their meal, but an unknown person sneaked into her room at about 4:00am and set them ablaze. The yet-to-be identified arsonist was said to have bathed the victims and their house with fuel before setting the building on fire. This made it impossible for the deceased and her children to exit their apartment when the fire was raging. The husband of the two women was said to be residing in Anambra State, but his mother living in a building next to the house where the victims were burnt, told newsmen that she heard her late daughter-in-law shout: “Jesus.” She said this made her to wake up and when she did, she saw that the door to the house was already covered in smoke. “I was in my room in the night when I heard someone shouting Jesus; I quickly rushed out to see what was happening though before then smoke has engulfed the whole place but I managed to see someone running out from the room where the deceased were lying but the person was a woman,” she said. Sources said there had been no love lost between the two wives apparently because of the inability of the senior wife, Ijeoma, to have children. Ijeoma was said to have opposed her husband when he was planning to bring in Chinyere as second wife. She could not be reached as at the time of filing this report. It was further gathered that she had been threatening to deal with the husband for taking a second wife in spite of her opposition to the plan. Nwaokpuru and the first wife are indigenes of Izzi, whereas the deceased came from Ezza and for the past three years since she got married to the family, she had witnessed no peace until her untimely death. Insider sources further disclosed that it was only three weeks ago that the traditional marriage rites were performed on the deceased even as the husband was yet to do same for the first wife. The mother-in-law told reporters that the first wife started behaving strangely after the traditional rites on the second wife and started sleeping outside the compound only to return every morning. When the police, SSS, civil defence and other related security agents in the state invaded the place and made an attempt to carry away the deceased and the infant baby, they were resisted by an angry mob from Ezza community who overpowered them and started setting ablaze all the houses in the compound and even threatened to kill some of the journalists who attempted taking the photograph of the scene. Reacting to the incident, the Coordinator of Abakaliki Development Centre, Mrs. Franca Okpo, said she was still asleep when one of her aides called to alert her of the tragedy. Okpo added that she immediately arrived the scene to see both members of Ezza and Izzi communities milling over the place and had to alert the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Izzi divisional police command who sent his men to avert skirmishes. Source.....EagleenStyle