Tragic end of prophet, two wives! *Victims die after inhaling generator fumes

Written by SAMUEL OYADONGHA

Sunday, 09 November 2008

A Yenagoa suburb was thrown into confusion after a prophet of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, his two wives and a guest were found dead in a house last Tuesday. Yenagoa—ONE of the basic needs of man in modern times is electricity. The need for energy, as exemplified by the industrialized world’s demand  for oil from the developing  countries, is one of the pointers to this. Oil, which Nigeria has in abundance, is needed to meet the advanced world  energy needs. Ironically, here in Nigeria, even though countries that get electricity supply from her are celebrating years of uninterrupted power, ours is notorious for power outage, prompting some concerned citizens  to view the problem  as ‘sign of resource curse.’ Today, in Bayelsa State, there is hardly any home without a generator due to the endemic power outage with the result that small scale businesses are gradually grinding to a halt as many could not afford the high cost of fuel while  corporate bodies depend on  generating plants thereby increasing their operational costs. Perhaps if there was constant electricity supply, the tragic incident that befell the Okeke family, last Tuesday, in the sleepy Etegwe suburb of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, and several others would have been averted. Problematic power sector This pathetic situation is not limited to the Okekes as several other tragic incidents associated with the problematic power sector have brought untold sorrow to scores of families. But could the body saddled with the responsibility of providing electricity supply be held responsibility for the tragedies related to incessant power failure or could the victims of this national ‘shame’ be blamed  for error of judgment? Such was the pathetic scenario that confronted residents of  Etegwe when a man identified as Prophet Adani Okeke, his two wives, Mary and Abinnamu, and a lady guest, whose name could not be ascertained, were found dead in a room after allegedly  inhaling carbon monoxide (fumes) from a generator. The incident underscored authorities’ continued warnings about the dangers of carbon monoxide, an odourless, colourless and highly toxic gas produced when fuel is burned.   The generator at the entrance of the Okeke's apartment It started as mere rumour in the early hours of that Tuesday until the wailing of relations of the deceased persons attracted other residents to the scene of  incident only to behold the corpses of those they saw the previous day hale and hearty. Many could not hold back tears on sighting the remains of the victims  lying still where the previous night they had rested their tired bodies.   Sunday Vanguard learnt that the prophet, his two wives and their lady guest  had, before retiring to bed in their one room apartment on that fateful Monday night, switched on the generator as there was no electricity supply. They died of suffocation from the generator smoke. The generator was conspicuously noticed at the entrance of the apartment Tuesday morning when sympathizers  besieged the scene. According to the first son of the deceased man, who simply gave his name as David, two of the three women were his step mothers. Lamenting the incident, David said the corpses were discovered when neighbours raised alarm after  they discovered that nobody had  come out of the room late Tuesday morning. “All the four persons went to sleep last night without any health problem only for people to wake up this morning and found them all dead,” he wailed. Until his demise, Sunday Vanguard learnt that the deceased Okeke was the head of the Etegwe Bethel of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star.   Sympathizers at the Okeke's home in Etegwe The generator, it was learnt, was placed at the entrance of the apartment due to lack of space and also prevent it from being stolen by night marauders. But little did the prophet know that his action would turn out to be a tragic error of judgment that would cost him not only his life but also those  of others dear to him. The remains of the victims were deposited at the Federal Medical Centre mortuary by a team of policemen from  B Division, Ekeki.   Spokesman of the state police command (DSP), Iniobong Ibokette, attributed the death of the four persons to carbon monoxide poisoning. “They were chocked after inhaling smoke from a generator,” he said. Reacting to the incident, the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, in the state called on the relevant authorities to take urgent steps to restore uninterrupted power supply to residents of the state. Secretary of the CLO, Morris Alagoa, who also visited the scene, however, called on residents of the state to stop putting generators in their houses with a view to averting a repeat of such disaster. Commenting on the incident, a concerned Bayelsan, Cliff Amagbe, described it as a sad loss, adding, “It is the duty of any responsible government to provide basic amenities for its citizens and this includes electricity.”