It’s The Perfect Will Of God —CAC Pastor Who Lost Wife, 4 Kids To Inferno In Warri

For Pastor John Kayode, resident pastor in charge of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Otumara, Warri, Delta State, the month of September, particularly the 25th, will remain sad in his mind.

It was a day the cleric lost his wife, four children and all he ever lived and cared for since May 2001, when he got married to Grace.

If not for cruel fate, Mrs Kayode and her four children would be alive to tell the story of how fire razed their home at Oguoyibo Lane, off Emiko Close, in the heart of Warri, Delta State.

As common with CAC churches nationwide, the Kayode family lived in the church’s mission house adjoining the church auditorium. Behind the church premises is a swamp, from which the land was evidently claimed.

The exit and entry doors and windows of the two-bedroom mission house were secured with burglar proofs making it difficult for Mrs Kayode and four children - Egburoghene Enoch (13), Oghenemaro Ogheneyucime, Efemena Ogheneruona Nehemiah (10), and Oghenetegiri OgheneTekwe (7) to escape the tragedy. 

Pastor Kayode was said to have left home last Monday for a pastors’ conference at the Babalola International Prayer Camp, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, unknown to him that he would not meet his wife and four children alive.

According to eyewitnesses, the fire, after razing the mission house, extended its rage to the church’s auditorium, razing a section of the wall of the altar as well as destroying several other property.

A witness of the inferno, simply known as December, who rushed to the scene upon hearing the screaming of the wife of the pastor and one of her daughters for help, said he could not help because of the burglar proof of the doors and windows. He could only bale some water from the borehole tank to douse the raging fire even when he sighted one of the daughters attempting to remove the louvres in order to escape.

“At about 12 midnight, I heard the woman shouting on top of her voice: “Help! Help!! Help!!! So, we came out and, on getting there, I saw the last daughter of the pastor standing very close to the louvre and was banging on it. There was no way I could help. We were just pouring water and later, I saw the woman struggling with the door, but the three children in the other room did not struggle at all.

“The house was in thick smoke because where they slept was where we met them when we were removing their corpses. So, it took about one hour when they were shouting and screaming before they died.

“Later, someone called the fire fighters and it took them another one hour before they got here and by this time, they had already given up; the girl died very close to the woman. So, they screamed for another 15 minutes when I came out and finally, I could not hear their voices and that was when I knew they had died,” December said.

He said the fire fighters, from Shell Fire Service, could only manoeuver their way into the scene at around 2:45 a.m, before they could put out the fire.

Mrs Margaret Ichibo, another member of the church, who also witnessed the incident, said: “There was light that time, so I think it’s from power providers; it is an electrical fault because the generator was not on and even the gas cylinder in the house was not on, so we suspect it was an electrical fault.”

The confirmation that the entire mission house and the five victims were burnt beyond recognition sent sympathisers, particularly members of the church, into uncontrollable wailing.

Saturday Tribune was informed that the bodies were taken to the Warri Central Hospital morgue at about 6:00a.m. A large part of the church auditorium - PVC ceiling, wall tiles, electrical gadgets, sound systems, the roof, blinds, among others, were all razed.

For the early part of that fateful day, smoke was still billowing from a part of the church ceiling and the atmosphere was sombre with more sympathisers thronging the area.

A member of Kayode’s church, Mrs Stella Osama, told Saturday Tribune that the pastor’s wife was a very good, lively and nice mother and wife.

Another member, Mrs Beauty Atimi, described the late pastor’s wife as “a very nice person, more than nice; I don’t know what to qualify her with; words are not enough to express how she was to me and everybody in the church.”

Mrs Magret Ichibo, while speaking on her last moment with the pastor’s wife, said they had a prayer session together on Wednesday (September 24) and there was no premonition of any impending catastrophe.

“I was with the woman yesterday;  I was there from around 8:00am to 1:30 pm. We were praying before I left the church in the afternoon and there was no problem. She was healthy; the children were healthy and there was no sign at all,” Mrs Ichibo said.

An elder member of the church, Pa Samuel Atimi, said “I was informed about the fire at about 5:00a.m. The woman was a very good woman and I really feel bad about it, it is painful that such could happen but there is nothing we can do.”

Another elder of the church, Pa John Enogun, also said “I feel very bad about it; I was informed early this morning and everything had already happened; it is unfortunate. Well, the corpses have been carried to the mortuary so we are waiting for the other pastors of CAC in Warri.”

Secretary of the church, Mr Emmanuel Ogboigbe, said the actual persons that could give account of what happened were the deceased. Ogoigbe, who is the Sun Newspaper correspondent in Warri, lamented that the tragedy was one too many for the church and pastor to bear.

Pastor Kayode, after his return to Warri, last Sunday, said he didn’t suspect any foul play and that it was the will of God.

Kayode, said if it were possible to fly to Warri from Osun State at about 1:10a.m when he was alerted that his wife and children were caught in the fire, he would have gladly done so.

Kayode, showing some courage, was still at the church auditorium last Sunday, the fourth day after the incident, where he admonished his members not to be deterred, as according to him, his wife and four children had only gone to be with the Lord.

Saturday Tribune gathered that the remains of the four children had been interred at a cemetery in Agbarhoma suburb of Warri, while the body of Grace is still in the morgue.

When contacted, the Area Commander of Warri Area Command of the Nigeria Police, ACP Hussein Rabiu, said the incident was unfortunate.

Nigerian Tribune