Victor EzejaMore facts have emerged on how the theatre and Labour room sections of the popular Mercy Medical and Pathological Center, Osogbo, were set ablaze.
A resident staff of the clinic, Jamiu Saoban, who witnessed the incident said that at 12 am, 26th December, he saw Mrs Margaret Reis Udo, (wife of Dr Abdulfatai Onifade, who owns the health facility), patrolling the premises with a yellow keg. According to him, he did not suspect that she was up to something sinister until midnight when they saw fire explosion in the theatre section.
Saoban disclosed that Dr Onifade was out of town at the time.
According to him, one Dr. Emmanuel, a resident doctor, who lives in an apartment opposite the Clinic’s theatre area, ran out upon noticing the fire and the billowing smoke and quickly called medical students who came for clinical posting and were staying up in the building, to come out for safety.
“Around 12:00 a.m. on the 26th of December 2022, I first saw Mrs Margret Onifade carrying a yellow keg of four to five litres. I could not get the measurement of the keg. She was carrying the keg around the hospital but I didn’t know this would happen and after that, around 2 am, we just saw fire explosion in our theatre building which damaged many things.
“Dr Onifade was not around on that very day. We tried to extinguish the fire.
Continuing, he said that while they were wondering about the cause of the fire, which had damaged many things in the theatre section, they heard the voice of a lady calling for help and Dr Emmanuel rushed to the theatre, broke in to save her and behold it was Mrs Maragaret, Onifade’s wife, requesting to be treated as she has been burnt by the fire.
“We heard a voice of a lady in our theatre building calling Dr for like five times. Dr Emmanuel asked who is that and the lady said it’s me without mentioning her name. Dr Emmanuel went there to break the demarcation between the theatre apartment and his apartment to enter to save the lady not knowing that she was Dr Onifade’s wife, Mrs Margret Onifade, who came out from there,” Saoban stated.
He said that he tried asking the woman why she went into the theatre without involving them and she replied incoherently, calling for help to be treated of the burns all over the body.
The eyewitness said he saw the same yellow keg the woman was carrying around earlier and discovered that she came into the facility with petrol and set fire on the building, but unfortunately got herself burnt.
“I personally asked her ‘Ma what are you doing inside the theatre building and she replied me that she saw smoke from that place and she wishes to know what caused the fire explosion and to know where the fire was coming from. And I still asked her again why didn’t you inform us or call us before going there only, and she didn’t reply the question. She was just shouting help me please treat me please just treat me. The reason she was shouting was because fire burnt her.
“Even after the thing happened, I still saw that same keg that I saw earlier in her hand around midnight. I still saw the same keg in our theatre, this is all that I know about this issue, and I can say this anywhere at any time,” Saoban, an eyewitness further stated.
READ ALSO: I Never Set My Wife Ablaze – Ibadan-based Medical Doctor
Dr. Onifade who works at the Chemical Pathology Department, University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, was accused of setting his wife ablaze.
Onifade had, however, denied doing so, and in a chat with Prime Business Africa, narrated how quarrel ensued between him and the wife over alleged marital infidelity on her part.
The medical practitioner said that the wife got enraged when he confronted her about the extramarital affair and made attempts to stab and strangulate him, on the night of 24th December, but couldn’t succeed which made him leave house in the evening of December 25th and on 26th morning, got a sad news that his clinic has been burnt.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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