The Baale of Ita-Marun in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State, Suleiman Nojeem, has revealed that he alerted the police to the arson of the home of four family members in his community.
Twenty-five-year-old Kehinde Oduse was set ablaze in his home in the early hours of Tuesday, November 26, alongside his wife, 22-year-old Eniola and two children, four-year-old Eri and two-year-old Onoara.
TheNigerian Metro gathered that the family members were asleep when some yet-to-be-identified individuals entered their premises at about 2a.m to sprinkle petrol around their apartment and after that, poured it into their room before setting it on fire.
While the two kids were burnt to death in the process, Kehinde and his wife later died in the hospital.
Speaking to our correspondent on Thursday, Nojeem said he was asleep when his attention was called to the incident at about 4 am.
He said he quickly alerted the police while he headed to the incident scene. He further said on getting there, some youths were making efforts to put out the fire.
He said, “It was around 4 am that one of my brothers called me that something happened. By the time he called me, I heard gunshots and thought people were running for safety. He said no, that Oduse’s house got burnt and that one of his sons got burnt. Since I was praying when I got the information, I had to quickly rush down there. I even saw some of his friends in their numbers coming from the area and I was told everyone struggled to put out the fire. Before I got there, I called the Divisional Police Officer and notified him and he promised to send a patrol.
“When I got there, I saw some youths making efforts. When I asked what happened, they said Kehinde and his wife were the ones who raised the alarm that their home was on fire. Meanwhile, I didn’t see him and his wife when I got there. I learnt they had already been taken away. Then, I called the DPO and told him that I’d not seen the patrol and he said he couldn’t reach them because of network.”
The community leader said he went back home and later received a call from the DPO who urged him to inform the family to make a report at the police station.
He further stated that there was no such issue about any land dispute relating to the incident as claimed in some quarters.
“So, there was nothing like an issue relating to land dispute being the cause of what happened. The boy was young and he related well with everyone in the town. He did not stay in the town but came home to stay with his family. No one in the community knows anything about the incident and no one killed his father,” he added.
The deceased’s twin sister, Taiwo, who broke the news of his death to our correspondent on Tuesday had said Kehinde died as a result of the degree of the burns he got.
The teary sister said, “He gave up the ghost around 5 am. The doctors did all they could to save him but he did not make it due to the reactions from the burns on his body. Although we were told when we brought him here that it was going to be 50-50, we hoped that he would survive it but unfortunately, he did not.”
During a visit to the hospital on Sunday, our correspondent saw the late Kehinde writhing in pain in the emergency section of the facility as he muttered a few words at intervals.
Members of his immediate family who were present at the hospital, including Taiwo, were also seen pacifying him.
Describing the incident as an act of conspiracy, a member of the family who identified himself simply as Razaq appealed to the police and relevant authorities to probe the incident and fish out the perpetrators.
He said, “This incident must not be allowed to slide. We want the perpetrators of the act to be brought to justice. We have made our findings and we discovered that this was carried out as a result of a conspiracy among some set of people in the community who are after the ancestral land belonging to our family. No one will allow his family members to be roasted in such a way and manner. We are appealing to the police and other relevant authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into this incident.”
Our correspondent gathered that the victim’s deceased wife and children had been buried.
In a video sighted by our correspondent, the apartment was razed with the charred remains of the two children lying inside.
Speaking further, Razaq alleged that the cause of the incident was not unconnected to issues relating to land in the community.
He said, “The family has been under pressure and has a series of attacks due to attempts to seize their land, which has run into hectares from them. This was part of what led to the death of their father about four months ago. His brother had also fled the community due to this, but Kehinde chose to stay behind because of his family. He was not at home for about some days. He only came back that Monday to spend the night with his family when this incident happened.”
