By Francesca Iwambe
It was a tragic day as an aged woman reportedly set her middle-age son, wife and two grandchildren ablaze in Aponmu community of Ondo state.
The grandmother, Iforiti, who lives with her son and his family in Aponmu, along Ondo-Akure Road, was said to have set the house ablaze while the family was asleep, killing three of them including the son, Victor, wife, Racheal and one of the grandchildren, while the remaining child is in critical condition.
An eyewitness, Korede Michael, who narrated the incident said the house was on fire around 2:00am at the early hours during the weekend and had to break the window to rescue everyone in the house.
Korede said: “The woman, her son Victor Oloro, wife Rachael and children, Toluwani and Blessing, were all in the house when the woman set it on fire. She got some dry palm fronds and the little petrol her son kept in a gallon (for generator), spread it around the house and then put fire to it.
“I was the first person to notice the fire and jumped into the house before other members of the community joined me in rescuing them. We got a vehicle immediately to transport them to the government hospital in Akure.
“When we got to Akure (UNIMED annex), the doctors and nurses rejected the patients, saying they cannot take care of them due to the degree of the burn and advised that we take them to the Federal Medical Center in Owo.
“Unfortunately, we lost the last grandchild, who was just two and a half years old, immediately we got to Owo.
“On Sunday, the son and his wife gave up the ghost while the only grandchild left is in a critical condition.”
The suspected woman, Iforiti, who was not in any way affected by the fire was said to have attempted suicide sometime in 2022 by jumping into a well but was rescued by neighbours.
Korede said “The children could not send the woman out of the house when she started behaving strangely because it was built by her late husband.”
Iforiti, who now stays alone in the burnt house, confessed she burnt her son and his family because they were starving him.
Police were yet to make any arrest at the time of filing this report but residents in Aponmu are demanding justice for the slain family.
