Mr Onuu Okah and his wife, Juliet, are victims of a fire incident at Mgbom community in the Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, which razed down a one-storey building and left about 10 tenants with severe burns on Saturday, November 7, 2020.
I saw fire in front of my door. At first, I was speechless, but I summoned up the courage to go out. The fire was burning from the passage through the staircase upstairs. I was afraid but I went outside through the fire with my child, not knowing I had not even woken my wife up. Immediately, I opened the door of the shop, I heard my wife shouting from inside. The fire was already going into the living room. As my wife struggled to come out through the passage, she was entrapped by the fire.
After dragging my wife outside, I discovered that at the back of the building, my neighbour’s car had also caught fire. It was then that I remembered my own car and ran back inside again to get my car key because my car was close to my neighbour’s, which was burning. As I took the key and was running out again, the fire caught me in the face. As I was outside, I saw my neighbour throwing his children down from upstairs to save their lives because the staircase had already caught fire.
The one I can remember is N65,000, that’s on my wife alone. I spent about N40,000 at the Medical Centre, Afikpo, where she was first taken to. Her condition was not getting better there, so I had to take her away from that place. She is now at a traditional healing place. My plan is to return her to the hospital if she doesn’t get better there after two weeks. I have not even started taking medication because I don’t have enough money. It’s my wife’s case that is bothering me so much now.