Lone survivor of family house fire dies
Twenty-five-year-old Kehinde Oduse, the only survivor of the attack on a family of four at Ita Marun community in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State is dead.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Kehinde who has been battling for his life since the incident happened passed away in the early hours of Tuesday at Gbagada General Hospital.
Kehinde 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, were burnt to death in the process.
It was gathered that the family was asleep in their room when some yet-to-be-identified individuals entered their premises at about 2 a.m.
The individuals were said to have sprinkled petrol around their apartment and specifically poured it into their room before setting it on fire.
The deceased’s twin sister, Taiwo, who broke the news of his death to our correspondent on Tuesday said Kehinde gave up the ghost as a result of the degree of the burns.
The teary sister said, “He gave up around 5 am this morning. 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.
Another member of the family who identified himself simply as Razaq also confirmed the development to our correspondent, adding that the deceased went through a lot of pain before he succumbed to the injuries.
He said, “We have lost him. Our hopes of saving him have been dashed. He went through a lot of pain and struggled to stay alive. We were told no one had that nature of the injury and spent up to 48 hours, but he hanged in up to a week.”
While describing the incident as an act of conspiracy, Razaq told our correspondent on Monday that a probe into the incident would reveal those behind the act.
He also 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.”
