Pastor’s House Set Ablaze While He’s Busy In Church ,Pleads With His Assailants To Leave Him Alone

Odogwuemekaodogwu.blogspot.com reports that the invaders scaled the fence of his house while the man of God was busy in his church along Bank Road, Umuahia, Abia, preaching the good news to the congregation.The evil ones had broken the window glasses, sprinkled fuel and other inflammable liquids on each of the rooms and set his house on fire.

But for an eagle-eyed neighbour who saw thick smoke bellowing from the roof of the house on Sunday, June 29, 2014, the private residence of Pastor Ugochukwu Nwosu of Unique Grace Ministries (aka Unique Worship Center) would have become history.

Before the ugly incident, the man of God had on several occasions been robbed by people, some of who were apprehended and handed over to the police. The bewildered Pastor Nwosu told Daily Sun that this was one out of the several attempts by daredevils to steal, kill and destroy his house:

“I am surprised at what I am seeing here. I traveled on Friday to preach at the church of a friend in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after which I stopped over in our church in Aba. I came back this morning. I was just driving into the church when one of my neighbours ran and called me that my house was on fire and I went and saw that the house was on fire truly.

“But, by the time I came the situation had been brought under control by people. I opened the door and discovered that my own room was still on fire. I could not trace where the fire was coming from; my suits were burning, documents etc. Part of the cotton was burning.

“I discovered that one of the windows which I was sure was locked before I traveled was damaged, which I believe is the source through which the arsonists sprinkled inflammable liquid into the house before putting it on fire.ww

“I started looking round and discovered that there was sprinkling of fuel and kerosene on the chairs, floors and other items of property. The three rooms which we are occupying presently were all on fire, but there was no fire on the corridors and other places. Somebody must have attempted it.

“Going round, we also found that the hose of the generator was cut and fuel must have been scooped from there to perform this dastard act. This is not an accident. “Three months back, some people came to steal here and they were caught. The matter was reported to the police. Three weeks ago, on a Sunday, thieves gained entry into the house and stole some items after which they broke the screen of my television set.

Today, it is just three Sundays and here is their handiwork. I believe somebody must have sent them, but I don’t know their reasons. For now, I am not suspecting anybody and I don’t know what to do. What have been damaged here could be estimated to be over N5 million. I am only telling those after me to leave me alone. My life is in Christ and what they have done is the worst they can do.”

A neighbor, Mr Bright Lawrence, who witnessed the incident said: “At about 10:30a.m, I was in my apartment watching television, when my younger sister from her own room started shouting, brother fire, fire, fire! She told me that our neighbour’s house was on fire. I rushed out and saw the smoke of the fire.

And being Sunday, everybody must have gone to church. I started hitting on my neighbour’s apartment and people started coming out. We rushed to the compound and shouted if there was anyone around and nobody answered and we shook the gate and it opened.

“We started going round to see the room where the fire was coming from, but the whole place was locked. Then we used stone to break the glass windows and poured water into the place. Some people brought fire extinguishers from their cars and we battled to put off the fire.

“As we were battling, the fire was ragging. I rushed to my house and drove to the church and told the pastor that his house was on fire. On getting back to the house, men of fire service were already on ground. We informed them that the wood on the roof had been affected and that they should concentrate their equipment up there, because smoke was still oozing out from the roof.

“The whole thing looks funny because the rooms that were burnt were not in anyway connected to each other for one to suspect that the fire must have gone from one room to the other. We could not link the fire passing from one room to the other. So, one can easily conclude that it is the handiwork of some evil people.

“One begins to wonder why a person would want to burn down some one’s building. There was no link between the first room that was burning and the third room. It is obvious that it is the handiwork of evil men. We thank God that people were able to come out otherwise, the whole house would have gone down in one big swoop of fire. We thank God that all is not lost.”

Mr Chukwuemeka Okezie, the Public Relations Officer of Abia State Fire Service said: “The cause of the fire is arson. As you go round, you can see fuel, kerosene and other inflammable materials sprinkled around this building. Immediately we got the call, I dispatched my men from the Government House and Umuahia Fire Station and we were able to rescue the house from further damage.

“When we came in here, we noticed large smoke, with ragging fire and people making efforts to attend to the fire problem. The advice I can give to the owner of the house is that he should be more careful with the people they do not know and even people they know. Nobody can tell who is who and to install fire-fighting equipment here. The extent of damage here runs into millions.”

Sun Report written by Chuks Onuoha , Umuahia