Okogbe, Counting The Losses

One week after the tragic fire incident that roasted almost 250 people to death in Okogbe, the entire community is still enveloped in grief. There is the likelihood that the grief may extend beyond the seven-day mourning declared last week in the area.

Our correspondent, Arnold Alalibo and photographer, Eberi Asitua-a, who went round the community last Friday, came back with a startling account of the gory incident and the pains the tanker fire tragedy  inflicted on the community.

The scene of the inferno was awful.

Unpleasant  stench from the decomposing corpses still rented the air. The major access road into the town looked particularly deserted, while most homes were dull and laden with grief. An atmosphere of gloom and stuffiness summoned all the natives and residents to an ominous stillness.

The usual husling and bursthing in the community was at a standstill.

No commercial activities. No social life.

How then has the community been able to cope?

The Eze Igbu/Igbuduya 11, His Royal Highness, Eze Joshua Eyiba (JP), of Okogbe clan, was optimistic that the community would come out of the situation. He lamented the lull in economic activities and the burden of feeding children whose parents died in the incident. He described them as the burden the town  had to live with temporarily.

“The economy is badly affected. Not only the economy. If you come here 7pm, the road that was busy and the streets that were busy are now ghost land. There is no business. So many people have left children without anyone to care for them. We are using community fund to feed them. That will not continue for a long time,” Eze Eyiba explained.

He recalled at about 7am, of the fateful day he heard that a trailer had fallen, in an attempt to avoid head on collision, with two vehicles. One hour thirty minutes later, he continued, a bang was heard and the ensuing inferno consumed his subjects. He debunked claims that all the victims of the incident were at the scene to scoop fuel. However, he said, many passersby were devoured as well as those who were there to rescue the victims.

“The day affected was on the 12th July, 2012. That day was Thursday. In the morning around 7am, when I heard that a tanker had fallen. We gave order that nobody should near the tanker . The tanker did not fall with any flame. It fell normal. And it is very close to water and in a ditch. When people saw the waste of the fuel they thought it was what they could take. The tanker that fell had two motor accident, one Camry and one bus that it hit before it went to the near filling station. He was avoiding the filling station and the car when he fell into a gutter. It was after one hour thirty minutes before we heard explosion. It was an explosion that attracted many people.

“Many people that met their death did not go to scoop fuel. Some went there with the intention of scooping fuel, others went there to advise them not to scoop. There were several passersby. Those going to Bayelsa thought they could pass. The fire caught them,” Eze Eyiba stated.

The monarch blamed the state of the East/West Road for the accident, not poverty. Nevertheless, he  did not rule out poverty completely but stated that it contributed minimally.

“Poverty is there but poverty is not there. Some people say greed. Some people say poverty. But I say the cause of the whole thing is bad road, the tanker could not have fallen,” the Royal Highness said.

Contrary to insinuations  that the Rivers State Government failed to respond rapidly to the incident, the royal father confirmed that the state government indeed acted fast by sending 15 ambulances that conveyed the victims to various hospitals. He thanked the Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, for his visit to the community and urged him to fulfill his promises to provide a functional health centre, electricity, water and road for the community.

“The Rivers State Government was fast enough. They sent us 15 ambulances. We took the victims in the ambulances to various hospitals in Port Harcourt. The community is grateful for the prompt action of our governor and the security men mostly the Area Commander around us. And again royal father of Rivers State, the chairman of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers was here physically to convey his condolence to his people. Something should be done for families of  the victims,” pleaded Eze Eyiba.

To many observers and residents of the state, the casualty figures remain a controversy. Several figures have been touted and this is understandable in incidents of this nature where all the deaths do not occur at once. However, the royal father debunked figures that are paraded about and stated that in Okogbe specifically, 191 corpses were buried, and several others were being recovered almost on daily basis.

“Those who give figures are all guessing. I am the man on the spot. When this happened all of us were present. As we saw the burning, human beings burning  like charcoal, several of them about 191 were burnt to death. That was why we ordered for mass burial. We counted 191 corpses. Then the following day we discovered 15 again in the bush. Yesterday (July 19, 2012) again we discovered another one.

“So the guessing  may say 400, 500. But the packaged ones we put into the grave that we counted in the presence of the Area Commander, myself, the chairman of the Ahoada West Local Government Area were 191. When we took the casualties in the families here, in Okogbe alone, we had 191. There is a family we call Imaji – 38, Uchi had another 32. Other families had 40 and the rest of them. That make up 191. And then there are other indigenes. People from Baylsa are there. Akwa Ibom are there. Igbos are also there,” the Royal Highness listed.

But an account of the casualty figures The Tide obtained  from the paramount ruler of Okogbe community, Chief Franklin Igor, contained a more detailed breakdown. The figures are as follows: Imaji 38, Uchi 31, Ishi-Koloko 28, Agwuolo 7 and Umuzhi 4. These figures amount to 108, which is a variation in Eze Eyiba’s account.

As the controversy in the casualty figures rages, Chief Igor confirmed to The Tide that a similar incident occurred about three years ago with no casualties recorded. At that incident, he said, the tanker caught fire before it fell off. Could it be that no lesson was learnt  from the previous incident since there were no casualties?.

In line with what many people think, the paramount ruler contended that abject poverty was the real factor that motivated the victims to scoop the fuel. He reasoned that many of them did it for pecuniary reasons, while others needed fuel for their generators.

“I think it is poverty. Many of them went there for the purpose of scooping fuel for their generators. They might want to sell one or two litres to make their living for the day,” Chief Igor reasoned.

Following the spate of accidents on that portion of the road, some observers have attributed them to supernatural forces which require the performance of some rites to get them ceased. Chief Igor, however, disagreed with the view. He said as a Christian he believed that God sanctioned anything that happened.

“I am a Christian.  Since I am a  Christian, I believe in God. God says anything that happens we should give glory to God. Even if there is any supernatural thing about what happened, well our elderly people will go out and come back to tell us. For now, I  cannot attribute it to anything,” the royal father emphasised.

As a mark of respect for victims of the incident, the Okogbe community declared a seven – day morning period. According to our source, the morning period will end on Sunday, July 22, 2012.

“The seven days mourning is to remember and give honour to the people who lost their lives. They are all young, young people. You will agree with me that by tomorrow some of them would have become president, governors or whatever. And  today we have lost them and so we have to give them that honour and it is going to end on Sunday,” Chief  Igor informed.

The paramount ruler called on the federal government to work on the East/West Road to avert the frequent accidents that occurred there. He believed that if the road had been in good condition the accident would not have happened. Similarly, he urged the Rivers State Government to provide a health centre, light and water for the Okogbe people.

“The government should work on the East/West Road. If the road is okay, I don’t think this accident would have happened. They should work on the road so that vehicles coming from another side will be going on their own without hitch from anywhere.

“We have the health centre here which has been abandoned. If the health  centre were to be in use some of these people would have been taken to that place for first aid treatment. But right now it has been abandoned. We don’t want to talk about any other thing. We have no health centre, no water and no light. I spend more than N15,000 a month on fuel. I buy N500 fuel every day to run my generator. How much do I make in a day? Only God knows. The government should come to our aid we are really suffering,” Chief Igor appealed.

The Honourable Commissioner for Local Government, Mr Samuel Eyiba, son of the clan head of Okogbe, described the tanker fire incident as a disaster that did not only befall Okogbe community, but the whole nation, as those who died where representatives of the various segments of the country. Since then, he said, the mood of the community had been gloomy.

He commended the effort of the state government and assured that the health centre in the community which  is under construction, would be completed. He, however, urged the federal government to hasten up work on the highly maligned East/West Road. As part of efforts to avert similar incident, the commissioner stated that enlightenment campaigns would be carried out to sensitise the people on the right conduct in such situations.

“The efforts of the  state government has  been very encouraging. They bankrolled the medical expenses of the victims. The state government is  thinking of enlightening the citizenry not just the community. It is not like it is an Okogbe thing. It is a national thing . Efforts are geared  towards enlightenment on the dangers  of such incidents. Not too long from now that will just kick-start,” Eyiba assured.

Also speaking to The Tide, a civil servant and chairman of the vigilante group in Okogbe, Mr Happy Ede, contended that not everyone who died at the scene knew about the content the tanker spilled.  According to him,  while some knew it was fuel, others thought it was kerosene.

He said fuel had become a necessity in the community because there was no light. People went there to scoop fuel they would use for the generators. Ede, who lost two members of his family to the incident, attributed the calamity to bad road, poverty and lack of basic amenities in the community. He  asked the government to repair the road in order to avert the loss of more lives.

“We don’t have light here that is why fuel has become a necessity. Another thing is that people went there to make market out of it that is why so many people were involved. Here it is because of what they see not poverty alone and the condition the people are facing that is why they all fell into that temptation. The government should repair the East/West Road. The contract has been awarded since three years ago,” Ede lamented.

A retired headmaster and a former paramount ruler of Okogbe community, Chief Godwin Joseph, asked the government to pay him compensation for his son who died at the fire  incident. He said he would have collapsed when the boy was brought from Port Harcourt. Contrary to claims, Joseph alleged that the victims were not given treatment in Port Harcourt.

“Whatever they know they would do for me to survive, I want them to do it. They should give me something I can use to feed myself. Look at my wife (pointing to her) the mother. We are all too old”, Chief Joseph appealed.

When The Tide visited Oando filling station at Okogbe, the scene of the event, staff of the station covered their noses with white handkerchiefs in order to ward off the stench from the decomposing corpses.

The manager of the filling station, Mrs Angela Chinedu, appealed to the local government council and the community to get rid of the decomposing corpses in the bush. She stressed the need for the fumigation of the area to avoid outbreak of epidemic. She, nevertheless, said because of the stench, customers had ceased to buy fuel at the station.

“Our customers have ran away because of the bad smell. We appeal to the local government and the community to comb the bush for more corpses and fumigate the area to prevent an outbreak of epidemic. Our lives are in danger,” Mrs Chinedu pleaded.

Eye witnesses recalled similar incidents in different parts of the country and advised people to identify fire danger around them and resist the temptation of being victims.

Arnold Alalibo