“It is too hard to live with this reality, but God knows why it happened,” Ahmed Musa, a 23-year-old man said as he resigned to fate after the death of his mother and two other members of his immediate family in a fire incident last weekend.
Musa, who was in tears throughout his conversation with Daily Trust, said he regretted his inability to call his mum back after the disruption that cut short their conversation a few hours before the tragedy that cost their lives.
He said he woke up to the news of the death of his mother and her sister, alongside his younger brother some hours after their phone conversation.
Speaking about this last moment with his mother, Musa, who is based in Kaduna, could not hold back his tears as he said, “The only thing I can remember is that they were the last persons I talked to in the night before the incident happened.
When we were talking on phone, they told me that they were eating and I should come and join them. I told them that since I was not around, they should send mine through the phone. They said they would send it to me, but later on, the call was cut off. They called me back, but I could not hear them very well. I promised to call back later, but that was the call I did not make.”
He said they spoke immediately after the evening prayer but woke up the following morning with the sad news of the death of his mother, alongside his brother, Mubarak and his aunt in the fire incident.
Daily Trust Saturday had reported that a midnight fire incident at the Rijyar Zaki area of Kano metropolis had claimed three members of the same family last weekend.
The victims were identified as Hauwa Musa, Mubarak Musa and Salamatu Musa.
Daily Trust Saturday gathered that the late Hauwa, a mother of three, had lived in the compound where the accident occurred with her children for over 17 years after the death of her husband.
When our correspondent visited the area on Wednesday after the three-day prayers, the mood in the neighbourhood was still gloomy as residents struggled with the shock of the tragedy.
Groups of sympathizers continued to throng into the compound to register their condolences to the bereaved family.
Most neighbours who spoke to Daily Trust Saturday could not ascertain the time the fire started as most of them said they only got to know about the incident after the emergency response team of the Kano State Fire Service had arrived at the scene.
It was gathered that men of the local vigilante group on night patrol in the neighbourhood first discovered the house on fire and alerted the fire service.
A Federal Fire Service officer, Murtala I. Chachangi, who was at the scene on an investigation mission, blamed the inferno on an electric power surge.
“What we noticed in this fire incident is that it was caused by electricity supply; and this kind of incident is common where people don’t have the habit of switching off their electrical appliances when not in use,” he said.
He cautioned the people to always be careful in dealing with electricity and other inflammable objects in order to avert fire accidents.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje had sympathised with the family over the incident. The governor’s delegation, led by the executive secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Saleh Jili, on Wednesday, donated relief materials, including cement, roofing sheets and foodstuff to the family, with a view to cushioning the impact of the disaster.
Jili extended the governor’s concern and shock over the tragedy, urging the bereaved to take solace in God, in whose hands lies the destiny of every human being. He prayed to God to grant the deceased eternal rest in Aljanna Firdausi.
It was gathered that in 2020, no fewer than 134 people died in similar fire incidents across the state.
