Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said it received a distress alert at about 3.10 am on Thursday at No. 7 Jemigbon Street, Apollo Estate, off Elebiju, Ketu, Lagos.
A female staff of the National Open University of Nigeria, Dr Jumoke Odeyemi, has been killed in a fire that gutted her apartment in the Ketu area of Lagos State.
The agency said its Emergency Response Team including the LRU Fire Unit and the Lagos State Fire Service rushed to the scene, and prevented the spread of the inferno to other buildings in the estate.
Source said, Odeyemi had reportedly bought a 30-litre fuel the previous day which she kept in her balcony.
As soon as power was restored, there was a spark which reportedly caught a mosquito net in the two-bedroomed flat, leading to the fire.
Residents said they were awoken by the victim’s call for help, adding that in the twinkling of an eye, the fire reached the jerrycan of petrol and exploded.
According to LASEMA spokesman, Kehinde Adebayo, who said preliminary investigation conducted revealed that a duplex which was converted to flats (5 mini flat, a two bedroom flat, a four bedroom flat) was gutted by fire as a result of power surge.
He added: “Further investigation revealed that inferno which engulfed the entire building got an adult female entrapped and severely burnt.
“The body was recovered by ERT, handed over to the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit and has since been deposited at the Lagos Mainland General Hospital Mortuary.
Odeyemi, who joined NOUN in 2009, had a doctorate in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Ibadan, where she also had her bachelor’s degree in Language and Literacy and master’s degree in Education.
She reportedly got married four years ago and had yet to have a child with her United States-based husband.
An official of the National Open University of Nigeria, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that the late Odeyemi was a lecturer in the institution.
“She worked in the Faculty of Education. We learnt about the death this morning,” he added.
Sad
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