Egbema Fire: Abandoned Families Face Grim Aftermath

The May sun shone brilliantly over Okwuzi, one of the three Egbema communities on the northern borders of Rivers State with Imo State, but it could not permeate the mood of the people in and around this particular mud house located at the centre of the Umuagburuga village in the town.

Inside the poorly illuminated and ventilated parlours of the mud house was Mercy Nnah, a 67-year-old grandmother, who sat with her legs outstretched on a mat made from palm fronds spread on the rough unpaved floor. Chuckling on her outstretched legs was a three-month-old baby later identified as her grandchild; and playfully running about them was an older child, about three years old, said to be the older sister of the toddler. The gay mood of the kids however contrasted sharply with the cold demeanour of the old woman and some other women and older children in the room, who maintained some distant mien. They were a mixture of family members and sympathizers twho had come to condole with the family over the Abezi fire disaster that claimed two lives in the Nnah family.
The kids were obviously unaware of the sad mood in the neighbourhood and why their grandmother’s home had suddenly been receiving sad faced visitors. Their mother, Mrs. Vivian Nnah, and their older cousin, Chimezie Nnah, 18 were among the about 200 people that were killed in a fire disaster ignited by an explosion on the April 22 at an oil bunkering site in a forest in the heart of neighbouring village, Abezi in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State. Like many other victims of the unfortunate incident, the bodies of Mrs. Nnah and Chimezie were never recovered for burial as the local customs required. They were burnt beyond recognition and interred in a mass grave near the site of the fire incident.
Abezi oil bunkering camp had become the centre of a gold rush for youths, women and even children in the neighbouring communities, as well as people that came from far to trade in crude oil and illicitly refined petroleum products sourced from broken crude oil pipelines passing through the local forests. Things seemed to have gone well for the traders and their dependents until April 22 when an explosion occurred causing a massive fire that burnt everything in its path.
The mood at the home of the Nnahs reflected the situation in Okwuzi, one of three Egbema communities in Rivers State that lost scores of people in the fire disaster. The other communities are Aggah and Mgbede, which together host the oil giants, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, otherwise known as AGIP and a plethora of other smaller international oil companies. From under the ground of these three communities, the oil companies drill tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil and gas every day, which are transported to the coast by pipelines for export at the Bonny terminal. Oil from Egbema communities accounts for five percent of the total two million barrels of crude oil that Nigeria exports every day. But most of the people in Egbema remain poor, relying on subsistence farming and fishing for survival, while a lucky few pick up white collar jobs from government or casual employment from the contractors that work for the oil companies.
The April 22 disaster was a huge setback, throwing the entire communities into sorrow. The casualty figures in the other Egbema communities across the border in Imo State were much higher. But for the three communities in Rivers State, the figure was about 35 five – four in Okwuzi, 11 in Mgbede and 20 in Aggah.
Almost everywhere, people were chatting in groups about the disaster. So it was easy for visitors to pick up bits and pieces about the story that threw the previous silent far flung communities into international prominence.

It was the worst human tragedy Egbema community has ever suffered. “You can imagine, even during the civil war such a thing did not happen. There is no place they (soldiers during the war) came to Egbema and killed over a hundred persons. This is the first time we are seeing things of this nature,” said Dr. Nelson Ekperi, the Onueze Okwuzi and traditional prime minister of Okwuzi.
The casualty figures had continued to rise as many families came to the reality that their members who left home to the Abezi oil bunkering camp might have been part of the mass burial organized by the government of Imo State for the hundreds of unidentified corpses that were burnt beyond recognition at Abezi. Many other families still hope that one day their missing loved ones will walk home.
As horrifying and heart wrenching as the story of the Abezi fire disaster was, it has been more shocking that the hundreds of families, mostly poor and orphaned that lost loved ones and breadwinners are abandoned to their fate by government, aid agencies and even the victims’ communities.
National Point visited some of the affected families and returned with shocking revelations about the sad state of the bereaved families, pain-struck children and women left to cope with the aftermath of the disaster.
Madam Nnah, earlier mentioned, is now saddled with the arduous burden of caring for her three-month-old grandchild and the elder sister.
“Since that day I have been crying. I have not been eating,” said Mama Nnah, who pointed out she had been depending on other relatives to survive. Her late daughter, according to her, did not even have a reliable source of income.
“She used to pick palm nuts in the bush and worked as a farm hand before she was attracted to Abezi oil bunkering camp to make more money to take care of herself and her children,” she said.
Asked what the late Mrs. Vivian Nnah and her grandson, Chimezie were doing at Abezi camp, Madam Nnah said they were helping to transport crude oil in sealed cellophane bags in wheelbarrows from the forest to waiting vehicles for onward transportation to town. The camp had become a lifeline for many in those communities.

Also, mourning at Umuagburuga village in Okwuzi is the Charles family. Mrs. Sylvaria Charles, 35 was seen cooking the family meal outside the house in the hot afternoon. The stove was made up of an iron tripod and firewood, which she intermittently fanned to get the embers to burn. The young widow lost her 13-year-old daughter, Ogechi, a JS2 student of Egbema Grammar School to the fire disaster.
“My daughter was among those that were helping to tie raw crude (oil) in the bush before fire entered and destroyed everybody in the bush,” Sylvaria narrated amid sobs. Ogechi’s remains were not recovered and were probably among bodies given mass burial at Abezi.
Sylvaria, who also takes care of her 70 years old mother, also a widow, said she now sells empty plastic bottles which she gathers from events sites to raise money to feed the family made up of herself, her mother and her younger child. She told National Point that she would like government to provide her with a job, even though she did not have any school certificate, having dropped out of school in SS2.
The story of Chimaobi Alamezie, the 28 year old indigene of Umuohu community of Okwuzi, is equally touching. According to family members, Chimaobi had only escorted a friend of his to Abezi on sight-seeing when he was caught up in the explosion.
He was able to escape from the scene with the fire all over his body and got home before he gave up the ghost. An orphan, he was said to have begun the process of marrying his sweetheart, who was already carrying his baby at the time of his death.

His step-mother, Madam Regina Alamezie, who narrated the story to National Point, said Chimaobi worked as a contract security staff with Agip at Ebocha and was the one catering to the needs of the entire family. She said the deceased had lost his mother and father and she had taken him up along with his other two siblings as her own children.
Madam Regina said since the death of Chimaobi, the family had been left to sorrow alone. “Nobody, not even the community, has come to cry with us. Government should remember us and give us some support,” she appealed.
Rebecca Alamezie, Chimaobi’s stepsister has since taken over the role of the breadwinner for the family. She told National Point that it’s from the sale of buns, a pastry productwhich she makes by herself that she now keeps the family going.
Rebecca, who said she was willing to take up any appointment or would appreciate an empowerment programme, appealed to government and the companies to do something to keep the youths gainfully engaged.
Mgbede community, which lies southeast of Okwuzi, lost 11 people in the fire at Abezi. One of the victims was Kentus Ebere, 24, who graduated only a few months ago as a mechanical engineer from the Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, Rivers State. He was awaiting his call-up for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme when fate caught up with him on April 22, 2022.
Narrating his story to this publication, Kentus’ elder sister, Mrs. Vivian Akazeum, said a friend of the deceased had invited him to join him in the business of buying crude oil from Abezi bunkering camp for processing.

“That was the last we saw of him alive,” Mrs. Akazeum lamented. The family was lucky to have identified and recovered Kentus’ body for burial.
If Kentus’ body was recovered for burial, that was not the story for 40-year-old Destiny Nwabuba also from Mgbede community.
His distraught father, Eze Lucky Nwabuba, said they couldn’t identify Destiny’s remains. He was among those buried in a mass grave at Abezi.
Eze Nwabuba, an octogenarian, said he was in his farm when he was informed that his son was among the victims at the fire incident. He said Destiny had followed his friend to buy crude oil at the Abezi camp. “Eventually, fire was ignited and he fell victim,” he said.
Destiny left behind a wife and four children – one girl and three boys. Nwabuba said his daughter in-law has been taken away along with her children by her parents.
Destiny was one of the two sons of his father that had survived out of 12 children. Now, Eze Nwabuba is left with only one son “to bury him.”

The story of the late Mrs. Chinwendu Friday from Mgbede was equally pathetic. Chinwendu, 32, had lost her husband three months ago, leaving her to exclusively cater for their five children- four boys and one girl.
Her father in-law Chief Friday Ndukwe, who narrated the story to National Point, said Chinwendu had been attracted to the Abezi site after the loss of her husband.
“She buys crude oil from the site and cooks it to get products which she sells to raise money for the family’s upkeep,” he said.
At Aggah another neighbouring community that lost over 20 persons to the Abezi fire, Mrs. Anna Nwapi, narrated how her daughter, Chizoba, 30, was caught in the web.
“People were going for bunkering and she went with them. She is a buyer. She buys processed kerosene and resells in smaller volumes. We did not recover her body, “Mrs. Nwapi lamented.

She disclosed that her daughter was trained as an auxiliary nurse and left behind a 12-year-old son. “We were not in support of her going into that business. So, she used to hide it from the family,” the bereaved mother revealed.
The burden of bringing up Chizoba’s son, now in JS2, has fallen on his u8nprepared grandmother, who said she sells yam to survive. “But it is not enough to pay the bills,” she explained.
As with the AIDS pandemic, the Abezi disaster has placed a heavy load on women as stated by the Chairperson of Okwuzi Women development Initiative, Shepherdess Peace Mgbenwa. “The incident has given mothers, wives, sisters, aunties and grandmothers more responsibility. And help is not coming for them from anywhere,” she lamented.
Mgbenwa also said a lot of women who were caught in the fire were not directly involved in the illegal oil business. “They were selling mama put (food vending), minerals and transporting in wheelbarrows, already packaged crude oil. The place attracted them because it was one place where they could make good sales since the price of the things they sell was a little higher there,” she said.
If government and humanitarian agencies have failed to come to the assistance of the victims of Abezi fire disaster, why hasn’t the community and close relatives responded to the cries of the bereaved families? Many people in the communities that spoke to National Point said they were being careful not to court the wrath of government, which had banned illegal bunkering. The Onueze of Okwuzi said the business is evil and the people had been warned to stay away from it. Bernie Martins, chairman of the Project Committee of Aggah Community Development Committee said the people fear that those who tried to help the victims could be running into a conflict with the government.
Rivers State governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, had banned illegal crude oil bunkering in the state and even placed a bounty of N2million on the heads of people operating the business in the state. But the business has however continued unabated in many parts of the state.
A single thread runs through the stories of most of the victims that were consumed by the Abezi fire incident. That common thread is poverty accentuated by lack of gainful employment and empowerment schemes for women and the youths capped by ignorance. The people are also united in their condemnation of illegal oil bunkering, which caused the April 22 fire. They want those engaged in it to stop but, they are calling on the government and the oil companies to provide employment and empowerment programmes for the people to deter them from the bunkering activities.
The Onueze of Okwuzi, Dr. Ekperi, was very direct on what should be done to stop people from turning their attention to illicit businesses such as the oil bunkering that caused the fire that killed people in their hundreds on that fateful day of April 22.
Describing illegal oil bunkering as a “useless business,” Ekperi said the people had been warned to stay away from the business, “but they continued.”
“Having seen what happened, they should put a final stop to this illegal business,” he said.
But some necessary things must be done.
“There is no employment. Government has refused to create employment. The oil companies too have refused to give the people employment but the burden is more on the government. If the people were engaged, they would not have come out to do such things (oil bunkering). An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop”, he stressed.
Although the area is supposed to be enjoying services from the oil derived from their soil, development is absent especially from government.
Ekperi said the people have not seen the impact of the 13 percent derivation, which the Nigerian constitution provided for to develop the oil producing communities. “We haven’t seen the 13 percent in our area,” he said.
**Martins said it was lack of employment that sent many youths, women and children into illegal bunkering. He expressed fears that if the illegal bunkering business was stopped and employment was not provided for the youths, there would be increased criminality in the community.
Mgbenwa, also said many people were not stepping forward to offer help to the victims of the fire because of government’s ban of illegal bunkering. But she said that shouldn’t stop the people who are known for caring for their neighbours from coming out to the help the bereaved families.
She advised government and the oil companies to provide jobs and empowerment for youths and women to keep them away from illicit businesses.
Beyond failure of government in engaging the people, a few however, believe the youth could have chosen a better path.
One woman at Okwuzi, who didn’t want her name in print, told National Point that those who became victims of the illegal oil bunkering fire had themselves to blame because they had alternatives to the business.
“Why should they involve themselves in that business when they have other things they could do and still do well? If they go to farm or follow people to farm they can earn some money for themselves. “Any serious person will not get up at night to go and do bunkering,” she said.
She advised that government should provide employment opportunities for the people to prevent them from having excuses to go for bunker