‘There was fire everywhere… I was struggling for life’

Ahmed Olasukanmi Awosanya spent his after-school hours, helping out in his father’s pub, otherwise called beer parlour at No. 45 Giwa Ojo Street, Lagos Island. As a junior secondary school student, he had grown used to combining his studies with other house work. Deep in his heart however, Ahmed nursed the ambition of becoming a great footballer.
And times without number, he had spoken enthusiastically about this dream to his elder brother. “He always told me that he wants to be a footballer and that I will buy jerseys, football and boots for him,” Oluwadamilola, Ahmed’s sibling, said.

But Ahmed’s sweet dream was cut short in the early hours of December 26, 2013. It was the day after Christmas; and in the spirit of Boxing Day, many people relaxed while the cool harmattan wind penetrated through the congested Lagos Island.
The Awosanyas took some time to rest because the previous day’s Christmas sale at their beer parlour was huge and exerting. So while Mr. and Mrs. Almaroof Olawale Awosanya still slept, the kids watched a just released Yoruba movie in the family’s living room. Unknown to the children, it was their last opportunity to relate to Ahmed Awosanya.

It also marked the beginning of sorrows for the family. “It was about five minutes past nine o’clock. I was in the bed, just resting. All of a sudden, a banger from the roof fell on my bed and the roof caved in. I had another big bang five munities later, ” said Mr. Awosanya.
Awosanya, who occupies a twobedroom flat on the third floor of the building, further recalled: “I have a beer parlour there. When the market is too much and we cannot go home, we sleep in the apartment.
The next flat is rented by another man who stocked banger.” He said more explosions went off intermittently, rocking the adjourning buildings to its foundations and that houses gave way and there was fire everywhere.
“I was just struggling for life. My wife, my children and my friend who was staying with us, all struggled to escape, but one of my children died in the commotion,” he said sadly. How did Awosanya manage to escape? He recalled, “I took a blanket, soaked it in water and wrapped myself, and entered into the fire.
Before I reached the stair-case, the fire had burnt out the blanket. The first floor, second and third floor were badly hit by the fire, that is where I got burnt in my hand, lap, legs and all over. But I thank God that I am alive, I thank God.”
Awosanya, who is now receiving treatment for burns and smoke-related poisoning at the General Hospital, Lagos Island, said that his wife was also receiving treatment in another hospital in Ebute Meta, Lagos. Awosanya’s eldest son, Oluwadamilola heard the explosions and quickly helped his siblings to run down the stairs only to realise that his Mum and Dad were still sleeping. “I met them at the foot of the staircase.
They were agitated and asked of my junior brother. We searched for him in the mixed of the pandemonium without success. The building has two stairways; I followed the other one.
Incidentally, Ahmed took the other staircase, we later found out that fire had caught up with him in the stair case and he died. “My mom has not stopped crying for the loss of my younger brother. I miss him a lot. Ahmed was a good boy. I promised to buy the jersey, football and boots for him, but he is no more.”
The Awosanyas also lost, about N150, 000 to the fire. A concerned citizen said, “We expect government to do something for these victims like buy drugs, pay their hospital bills and help to rehabilitate them.
“Governor Babatunde Fashola only paid what I call sightseeing so far, nothing has been heard of government till date. Every day, these victims buy drugs both within the General Hospital and outside at very expensive prices.
I wonder the type of government we have. Is it how these people should be treated? This thing happened unexpectedly. They deserve government’s sympathy and assistance.”
Many businessmen who have their outlets in Ojo Giwa and adjoining streets, have been temporarily out of business, following losses in cash and wares, running into billions of Naira.
Adetuwaju Wasiu sells rechargeable lanterns. He said, “My loss is in millions. I had just stocked my shop, because I buy directly from importers, most of who travelled before Xmas. So,  I bought goods ahead so that I could have articles to be selling, even after they must have travelled to their home towns.”
He was in his shop on Christmas day. “All the money I made from the Xmas sales was still in the shop. You know that banks were not working.” He lamented that he has dependants in a wife, and four children who are attending an expensive private school, to cater for.
All the same, Wasiu, now hospitalised at General hospital, Lagos Island, is grateful that he still has his life. Emeka Jude sang in the same tune: “I lost some millions of Naira. and life has not been the same for me.
He said,” Someone that has been trading with N1,000,000 and suddenly, everything is lost; that person is going to start from the scratch, especially if he does not have collateral to get a loan from the bank.
The person may be forced to go back to his village. It is a big tragedy.” Emeka Francis, dealer in generators, cried that he lost three shops that were stocked with generators of varying sizes and capacities, in addition to about N2 million cash. “As a business man, one spends money daily.
At least you come in and the family will smile, because you are wearing a smiling face. You have what it takes to sustain a good life; but now, the fire has taken everything we have. It has become difficult to survive on the usual scale.
It is a painful thing to cope without money,” said another trader. On the order of the Lagos State Government, the area has been cordoned off and the traders asked to stay off their shops for the time being, it was learnt.
But one thing that agitates the mind is how dangerous explosives, which many have argued are not the common type, came to be stored in a residential building.
A medic, who pleaded anonymity, described Governor Fashola’s comment on the unlawful importation of bangers into the country as a political statement that does not serve any purpose. His words: “That is a political talk; they should not give us that. Everybody knows that bangers are sold in the open market.
Small children buy it. Who imported it? That is number one. “Number two, the man that we are talking about brought those containers in just on Sunday, two days before its explosion. He asked: “When he was importing it, did he not declare what he was importing or did the thing not come in through the port?
Did the policemen who led the containers to the parking shop not know it was bangers? “The thing happened in front of a police station. Or don’t you know that there is a police station in front of the warehouse?
So, they did not see that the man was off-loading bangers? Let nobody make fools of us. Everybody is looking for money.” The concerned citizen observed that the importer, now at large, also must have paid duty on the items. He pointed out, “The police collected their own.
Have you ever seen a container that is being transported on the road and the police will not stop them? What have the police been doing? Now that the thing has happened, everybody is shouting, ‘It is banned!’”
He, howver, agreed that the bangers that could cause such impact on the environment were not the common types “It is the one that is being used by government anytime they are celebrating something. Or have you seen a common man using that one?
It the one they use when they are celebrating something, the one that they will connect to battery and press; the thing will sound poooo..ya..ya..ya; that is the type.
Can you afford to buy N500, 000 bangers? It is not the common banger. Shebi you saw the picture in the paper. It is government that is buying it,” he said.
Meanwhile the explosive’s importer, who is said to have gone into hiding, was said to have visited the warehouse, five minutes before the explosions occurred.
National Mirror