By Rauf Oyewole
Fire from neighbourhood where sallah meat was fried has engulfed the apartment of Mr. Murtala Muhammad, a journalist with Radio Nigeria’s Globe FM in Bauchi and destroyed part of his three-bedroom apartment.
The fire incident which emanated from his neighbour, according to the victim said that his neighbours were frying their meat on Thursday night last week, a day after Eid-il-Kabir Sallah before the incident.
“They did the frying and after that, they put off the fire in a way but after some times the fire reignited and rose to our roof. That occurred between 11:30pm and 1:00am. I was outside taking some tea while my wife whom was doing some cooking at front yard, she stepped in to pick something inside and discovered that flame from rooftop has started affecting one of our bedrooms.”
Affected partMurtala rushed in and ran out to call for help from neighbours who immediately rolled up their sleeves to fight the burning apartment. “One of them called the Fire Service several times but no one responded from the other end. Another person rode on motorcycle to call them, they arrived with their tank and assisted the neighbours in quenching the fire.
“I lost valuable items but thanks to Allah there was no live lost,” he said.
Murtala explained the one of the house where the fire emanated, popularly known as Wakilin Birni, a former member House of Representatives and Senatorial candidate for Bauchi South under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), apologised for the incident and took responsibility.
“I commend him, that night he took my family and I into his apartment to sleep. He has fixed the burnt part and painted it. He also assisted in other way. I commend for this.
