A 75-year-old man, Lamina Ishola, has been burnt to death by a fire that engulfed his house at Isale-Aro street in Osogbo, the Osun State capital. An eyewitness account stated that the fire started at 9:00pm last Thursday, when Ishola was asleep inside his mud house.
Thick flame was said to have been noticed coming out of one of the rooms by the neighbours, who attempted to save the life of the deceased without any luck. They were said to have made frantic efforts to put off the fire before fire fighters arrived the scene of the incident. But the victim, father of a ten-year-old boy and a seven-year old girl, got burnt to death before help could reach him.
The deceased’s 71-year-old younger brother, Ademola Oseni, said the fire broke out when Ishola mistakenly fell on a locally made kerosene-powered lantern. He disclosed that someone had bought the lantern for Ishola after the Power Holding Company of Nigeria disconnected electricity supply to his house when he could not pay his bill.
According to him, Ishola has not been in good mental condition following an injury he sustained in an auto accident. The victim’s remains had been buried early Friday at the Isale Aro family compound according to Islamic rites.