Heartbreaking Story Of Man Who Lost 4 Children, Grandchild And Wife In Ijegun Pipeline Explosion

The heartbreaking story has been told of a Nigerian man who lost his wife and four children in the Ijegun pipeline explosion.

Modiu Shakiru

Just before the pages are turned over, GBOYEGA ALAKA, in this piece, revisits last year’s Ijegun petrol pipeline explosion, with special focus on the civil servant, Sakiru Modiu, who lost four children, grandchild and wife. Modiu is also appealing to the Lagos State government and the NNPC for special compensation on compassionate ground.

He cut a pitiable, lonely figure, as he met this reporter at the entrance of his new abode, deep inside Agodo, Egbe, a suburb of Lagos. Modiu Shakiru, 51, represents the worst possible face of petrol pipeline explosion, which has become a regular occurrence in Nigeria, having lost four daughters, a grandchild and wife to the explosion that happened last year, July 4 precisely, in the Ijegun area of Lagos.

It may not be one year after, but the petroleum explosion that occurred Sunday night in Ekoro area of Abule Egba, Lagos, may yet replace and possibly obliterate the memory of that horrific incident, in which well over a dozen lives were lost. According to Titilayo Goncalves, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Lagos State, ten persons had died by Thursday, four days after the incident. Modiu was the worst hit in that explosion, as his house, which backed the major canal in the area and faced the drainage on Catholic Mission Street, was caught in between, trapping his entire family. Inevitably, he suffered the most casualties. But for what he called “experience and street wisdom,” he, very surely, would have been among the numbers.
The family had been preparing for the wedding of his half sister, the last born of his father, and all his daughters, five of them, had come, with their children, to deliberate, Modiu recalled.

“When the meeting ran late into the evening, they all agreed to sleep over. After all, it’s their father’s house, it’s their home. The wedding was billed for July 27, 2019, about three weeks away.

“Unfortunately, we all woke up to find ourselves in a blaze of fire around 4 o’clock in the morning. I lost my wife and four children in the fire. They were all grownups. One 34, another 28, another 24 and 16 year-old. I also lost a grandchild a 2-year-old. They all came with their grandchildren. Some of my grandchildren survived, but you’ll see evidence of the burns on them.

“We were all rushed to the hospital in Gbagada; my wife and my first born, Jemila, died on the third day. Three days later, another died. Of course, we were in separate wards, so I was unaware of their demise and my people, in their wisdom, didn’t know how to break the news to me. It wasn’t until much later that the family summoned courage to tell me.”

Asked how come he was able to come out with less injury, Modiu said, “I am a man. I was also caught in the fire but I used experience and street wisdom. We woke up suddenly to see the blazing fire as it raced towards my house from the back, so we rushed out, not knowing that it had also taken over the whole frontage. The fire had filled the gutter. I was to later learn that there was a clash between some security people and the oil thieves, who had vandalised the pipeline to steal Petrol. As a result of the scuffle, the fuel they had already siphoned spilled in the gutter and ran into the canal. The explosion happened right in front of my house before it scattered us all. In the midst of the confusion, the only option I had was to jump into the gutter in front of my house and try to submerge myself in it. Even though there was fire in it, it appeared the only refuge, so I immersed my face and front in the gutter, while all my back and leg which were exposed, burned.”

Asked if he regrets building his house close to a petroleum pipeline, Modiu said, “My house is not close to the pipeline. The vandals carried out their act on Five Junction, which is about four/five streets away, so nobody can accuse me of building near a pipeline. The canal had not been desilted, so the petrol which flowed into it was practically on the surface, which was why it was able to immediately affect my house. The last time such vandals activities happened in Ijedodo, which is a bit far from our house, we all abandoned our houses and ran to safety, until it was controlled.”

House of trauma
Following his discharge from the hospital, Modiu said he has had to just lock up the house and relocate to his present abode in Egbe, as he could just not bear the trauma of living in the house.

“That house, aside being damaged, holds too much horror memories for me. Do you know what it means to lose your wife and four children at about the same time? There is no day I don’t remember the incident. Is there any way I can forget it? I so love my wife and we understand each other so well. So, she is a big loss for me.

“In short, I’ve accepted my fate. But God in his mercy spared my pregnant daughter, Ganiat Sherif. Even though she also sustained serious burns; as we speak, she has put to bed and nothing happened to her child.”

At the moment, he says all the surviving children of her late children, five of them, now live with the surviving daughter, because, he as a man cannot take adequate care of them. Modiu says he will appreciate help in this regard.

Appeal for accommodation
His current abode, he said was collectively rented for him by family members, but says there is no way he would be able to continue paying the huge rent, which he said runs into over N200,000.

As a result, he is calling on the Lagos State government, the federal government and The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to take another look at his plight. “I think it will not be too much if the Lagos State government, possibly in collaboration with the Federal Government, reconsider my case and come up with a suitable compensation. I will gladly appreciated a gift of accommodation, possibly a two-bedroom or three-bedroom flat. Once the current rent of this apartment expires, I would need another accommodation because I cannot afford the yearly rent with my meagre driver’s salary.

“I am especially appealing to Governor Sanwo-Olu to step in. He has shown that he is a compassionate governor. He came to visit me at the hospital – the photos were all over the papers. He also ordered that all medical expenses be transferred to the Lagos State Government, which I appreciate a lot. I know he can do this for me.”