Posted by By Moyo Fabiyi on
An Action Congress (AC) stalwart in Dopemu, Lagos state, Mr. Hakeem Tijani Agboke, has lost his one-storey building, at 9, Dopemu Road, Papa Ashafa, Agege, to fire.
An Action Congress (AC) stalwart in Dopemu, Lagos state, Mr. Hakeem Tijani Agboke, has lost his one-storey building, at 9, Dopemu Road, Papa Ashafa, Agege, to fire.
P.M.News learnt that the fire started from the room of a tenant, who is a policeman. The policeman's pregnant wife reportedly locked her room and went to a nearby church when the fire was noticed at about 5 p.m., yesterday.
Debunking claims that a generator ignited the fire, the landlord said the policeman's generating set was on the ground floor. Agboke regretted that the fire destroyed all the rooms on the first floor and also property worth millions of naira.
'A woman, who is in the printing business, had just purchased materials worth N2 million which were razed among other properties,' the landlord said. He blamed the escalation of the fire on the unco-operative attitude of his tenants who introduced sentiments to the tragedy.
'Because the fire started from the room of a policeman they all hate for his efforts at co-ordinating the collection of electricity bills, all of them were busy moving out their personal effects.
'They did not inform me in good time, whereas I was in the third house to this place. I phoned a Special Adviser to governor Fashola, Mr. Opeifa, who in turn called the firemen. But while they were coming, the traffic logjam at Dopemu Road did not help matters,' Agboka narrated.
He said, if they worked harmoniously, his tenants would have succeeded in restricting the fire to the one room where it started. 'But they preferred to salvage only their personal effects,' adding that; 'Even some area boys came around to assist us.'
A tenant, who is a nursing mother, in a chat with P.M.News this morning, corroborated the landlord's account that the fire started from the policeman's room, but said it might have been ignited by a lit candle. 'Maybe the policeman's wife forgot to put out a candle light in her room before she left for church,' said the nursing mother, who refused to disclose her name.
However, Agboke said, as a muslim, he has accepted the razed building as an act of God. 'I have accepted it as my fate,' the landlord told P.M.News, this morning. As at the time our reporter left the premises of the razed house, tenants were busy moving out their salvaged properties from the gutted building.