Photo: How This Prayer House Escape The Tanker Fire in Lagos

Fresh facts have emerged about the controversial tanker fire which
occurred on Wednesday in Lagos that left many people dead and
several others bankrupt as their goods and property were perished.
Below is the untold story of the incident as told by a businessman,
Ben Mbachu...
“I have been doing business here for the past 20 years. The
shops in this axis got burnt but this one did not. My goods were
not burnt. They are intact. It is miraculous and I believe it was
the Lord’s doing. It is a miracle that the fire passed over this
building to consume other buildings . Traders used to hold their
prayers here. The traders’ union members rented the first floor
and gave it out to people who hold prayer sessions here."
It was, however, not a victory song for Ben Mbachu all the way.
His second shop located in another building in the same area
was burnt. He saidd, “ The goods that I stored in a shop located
in another building were burnt."
As reported by Innocent Duru of The Nation, the last may not have
been heard about the strange tanker fire that wreaked monumental
havoc along Wilmer/Kirikiri road in Apapa, Lagos State. The Nation’s
investigation revealed that a building in the midst of the rubble of
charred buildings was mysteriously not consumed by the raging
inferno.
The building, it was gathered, is used for prayer meeting by the
traders. It also serves the secretariat of the traders’ union. It stood in
between a long stretch of buildings which were consumed by the fire
but inexplicably escaped the wrath of the furious conflagration.
Ben Mbachu, who has a shop on the ground floor of the building, was
speechless when approached for his reaction. “My goods are intact”
was his sudden outburst.
Findings showed that some of the victims, were still enjoying the
Yuletide break in their various home towns when they received heart-
rending calls that their shops were on fire. John Anyanwu, a victim,
said he had to abort his holiday and rushed down to Lagos to see the
calamity that had befallen his means of livelihood.
“I was in my home town when I got a call from a friend that our
business place was on fire. Immediately I got the call, I boarded the
next available Lagos-bound bus and came here immediately I arrived
Lagos State. When I got here, what I saw was unbelievable.
Everywhere was on fire. We lost goods worth millions.
“I never had premonitions that such would happen. It is just
unfortunate. I stocked my shop with the hope of selling them after
returning from the Yuletide break but as you can see, they are burnt. I
am going to sell them off as scraps. I can’t really quantify the loss
that I suffered until I take time to check my stock. From what I have
seen so far, I have lost millions of naira. I am only begging God to
restore me to my former position because I know how I started. I was
worth over N10 million before the incident but from what is on the
ground right now, I don’t think I would worth more than N700, 000
now.
“We would appreciate if the government could come to our aid by
helping us to put the place back in order and allow us to continue to
occupy the shops we have always used for our business,” he said.
Segun Martins travels from Ogun State to the affected area to do his
business on a daily basis. His shop was not spared by the fire. He
told our correspondent that he had a sleepless night when he got the
news of the incident late in the night on Wednesday. Still dazed by
the ugly development, he spoke about his losses:
“I have been trading here for the past 35 years. I was at home when
the call came that our shops were on fire. I couldn’t come
immediately because I live in Ogun State. I do come from Ogun State
on a daily basis to do business here. I couldn’t sleep all night when I
received the call. When I came the following morning, I found that
everything, including the money I had in the shop, had been razed by
the fire.”
The story was not different for many others. Really said. May God
restore them...Amen!