Alhaji Kaka Abba Kyari, former Borno State Auditor General, lost his life on Thursday morning, in a fire incident at a section of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Guest House.
Alhaji Kyari was one of the delegates in the entourage of the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba El-Kanemi, who was installed on Thursday as Chancellor of the university.
According to sources in the Shehu’s entourage, the fire started at about 2am from one of the rooms in the Guest House.
“The fire started at about 2am. There were frantic efforts to douse it but there were also panic among our people. The late Kyari was already asleep in his room and it was the screaming and shouting of fire! fire!! fire!!! that woke him.
“He ran into the toilet in his room thinking he could beat the smoke but when it became unbearable and there was no escape route, he attempted to run outside but had to pass through his room.
But that coincided with power outage, making it difficult for him to navigate his way out of the room.
“At that time the room had been engulfed in smoke. By the time he managed to enter the room, he had inhaled a lot of smoke and choked to death,” a source said.
Another source said:
“Against the advice of the fire rescue team, Liman jumped from the third floor of the building to land on a staffer of the Guest House who was on the ground floor. The staffer had a broken leg while Liman fainted. He was rushed to the varsity’s hospital.
“While all of this was going on, people were distracted from following up on Kyari. And before anyone could even approach his room, he had lost his life before help could come,” the source added. Liman was later resuscitated at the UniLag clinic.
The remains of Kyari were returned to Maiduguri yesterday afternoon where he was interred at about 2pm.
Credit: DailyTrust
