Midnight fire wipes out family

The Umbuguala family in Eggon, Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State is in distress over the sudden death of seven of their members in a mysterious midnight fire.

Among the deceased was the head of the family, Mr Sunday Joseph Umbuguala, a 40-year-old graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), who until his death was an employee of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) attached to the Kaduna Refinery.

Other casualties of the fire outbreak include Umbuguala’s 38-year-old wife Emiria, their three children (Elmond 8, Eliana 5 and Elma 3) as well as two relatives Justina and Patience. They were all burnt to ashes in the fire outbreak said to have occurred around 2 am on February 22, at a time there was no electricity supply either from the public source, the generator or even power inverter.

Strangely too, the fire outbreak was said to be limited to the flat occupied by the Umbuguala family while other adjoining flats were not affected. Like everyone else in the neighbourhood, the entire family was apparently deeply asleep when the fire outbreak occurred and burnt them beyond recognition.

Sadly, the deceased engineer was said to be the only child of his parents as his father died when he was only seven years old while his mother who could not do much to support him financially also died in 2010, leaving him to struggle all alone to acquire university education.

The late Umbuguala was said to have met Emiria in the same Nasarawa Eggon where the two families lived close to each other. They started a relationship that lasted till May 10 when they decided to get married.

Emiria’s elder sisters and their family members were still in pensive mood during a visit to the family house on Thursday and it took time to get them to speak about the death of their loved ones.

An elder sister of the late Emiria, who identified herself simply as Mrs Abdullahi Mohammed, who spoke on behalf of other family members, sat dejected on a dining chair in the sitting room with tears rolling down her cheeks before she could utter a word. But after gaining some composure, she sat back, cleared her throat and narrated the misfortune that befell the family.

According to her, the entire family was living happily before the tragedy that struck on February 22. She recalled speaking with her deceased younger sister on the phone several times from morning till about 9pm on the fateful day.

Mrs. Mohammed said: “I spoke with my younger sister on the phone at about 9pm and she told me that she was plaiting her daughter’s hair as they were preparing to resume from the mid-term break. I also spoke with the children and they were happy and lively, saying that they would be in school again after the mid-term break. I had no inkling that it was the last time I would hear their voice.

With this dirge amidst sobbing uncontrollably, Mrs. Ibrahim Mohammed took her long silence and mourned her younger sister, husband and the three kids.

It was gathered that before her departure, the late Emiria had completed her master’s degree programme and was waiting to defend her thesis.

The elder sister, who had earlier vowed not to blame God for what happened, later made a U-turn, saying that it is not fair that God would allow such an amazing family to be burnt to death in one fell swoop.