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There was confusion in Ezinihitte Mbaise Council Area of Enugu State when an 80-year-old grand-father, identified as Mr. Louis Onwumere, poured petrol on his family house before allegedly striking a match and burning himself to death.
The Eastern Updates gathered that the grandpa, described by one villager as a ‘strange man’ retired many years ago as a staff of the School of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt in Rivers State where he had worked with a Standard Six certificate as his highest qualification.
Although natives of the community described the ugly incident as an abomination, first of its kind in the village, they could not pinpoint anybody with whom he had any quarrel or fight to warrant such a bizarre action.
To prevent the possible mass arrest of natives by the police and apparently wash their hands off the matter, some members of the Umualika village had gone to swear a court affidavit, insisting that the deceased who reportedly lived alone in the house had no trouble with anyone, hence they could not finger anybody as a suspect, according to a source in the village, who added that they told the police ‘we are not suspecting anybody and we don’t want trouble.’
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The source disclosed that they had submitted the affidavit to the police at Ezinihitte Police Division in Ezinihitte Mbaise Council Area of the state.
On Thursday when the incident happened, the octogenarian, whose wife still resides in Port Harcourt, had waited patiently for the rain to stop before allegedly executing his plot.
‘It rained from morning till about past 11 am on that day. When the sun began to shine in the afternoon, say at about 1pm the inferno began and raged on till at about 6pm before the walls of the building began to fall down,’ a resident said.
It was further gathered that the entire 3-bedroom and a sitting-room bungalow – the rooftop, the walls and everything – were burning at the same time, suggesting that he might have spread petrol or kerosene on the house.
THE EASTERN UPDATES
