By Rahaman Yusuf
Tragedy struck in the quiet town of Aponmu last weekend as an old woman was reported to have set her son, wife and grandchildren ablaze.
The woman, 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.
An eyewitness, Korede Michael, who narrated the incident to newsmen said he saw the house on fire around 2am 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 Blessed 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, 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.
Korede explained further that “when we got to the state hospital in Akure, the doctors 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 woman, Iforiti, who was not in any way affected by the fire was said to have attempted suicide sometimes 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 said she burnt her son and family because they were starving him.
