A police corporal, Jeremiah Yusuf, lost four children in a fire incident at Tudun-wada Quarters of Gusau, Zamfara, on Wednesday.
Yusuf told the News Agency of Nigeria at a neighbour’s house where he was receiving sympathisers, that “I watched all my children burn helplessly before me and I could not do anything to save them.”
Yusuf explained that he became aware of the incident at about 1am when his sister-in-law, rushed into his bedroom shouting that the four-bedroom house was on fire.
“When I woke up I noticed that even the mattress that I was lying on had also caught fire and that was when I thought of my children, who were all sleeping in the same room,’’ he said.
The bereaved corporal said that before he could do anything the ceiling had caved in and killed them.
He said that his wife had travelled to Benue with his last son, adding that she been informed of the incident.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Hassan Atto, urged Yusuf during a condolence visit to consider the tragedy as an act of God.
Atto promised that the State Government would assist him to cushion the effects of the loss.
The SSG said the government would reposition the Fire Service to meet eventualities, especially “as we enter into harmattan.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Usman Gwary, and the Divisional Police Officer of Tudun-wada Police Station, Abubakar Shika, had paid their condolence visits to the bereaved corporal.