Ovie Okpare, Warri

Pic: the victims apartment where the fire started

A middle- aged man has reportedly set himself ablaze over an allegation of his wife infidelity at Owharen Street of Ovwian in Udu Council Area of Delta State.

The incident, our correspondent gathered, occurred on Friday inside the apartment of the victim.

Sources said the incident, however, led to serious anxiety among residents of the area as the inferno spread to other apartments as properties worth millions of naira were said to have been destroyed in the process.

A resident of the area hinted that the victim had in the weeks past threatened to kill himself after his wife was reportedly caught pants down with one his male messengers in the area.

The source added that on Friday when the man returned home and he locked himself and poured fuel on his body and thereafter light himself where he burnt beyond recognition before help could come.

“Some few weeks ago, his wife, Blessing was caught pant down by their neighbours with a young boy who washes the Keke of the man.

The boy is one of the boys whom he usually sent on an errand in the area.

“Though the wife has since left his apartment, the man returned home that day, poured fuel on his body, barricaded himself inside his apartment with an iron bar and set himself ablaze ”, the source told newsmen.

Another resident of the area said their action was drawn to the incident when a thick smoke was seen emanating from the apartment was fast spreading to other neighbouring apartments whose residents were already asleep.

Owner of the building, Mr Nyonren Egharan while lamenting the incident said, “ When the fire broke out, I ran to where the fire started from, broke into the apartment and tried to rescue the victim who held on to a chair and insisted that he wanted to end his life.

“His action during the inferno that claimed his life fuels the suspicion that he may have set the house on fire by himself to reinforce the suicide argument . I sustained serious burnt from the raging fire while trying to rescue the victim. ”

The landlord who claimed that all his life savings were consumed in the inferno appealed to the Delta State Government and Udu council to come to his rescue to enable him start life again.

A source at the Ovwian – Aladja Police Station also confirmed the incident, adding that the victim had been evacuated to a nearby morgue.

Punchng