Mysterious fires kills 64-year-old Ghanian in Ondo

How a mysterious fire outbreak  roasted a 64 year old Ghanaian economics  teacher, Ackon Anthony right inside his house  while the wife, Kemi was in another room under the same roof is a knotty issue detectives in the Ondo State police command are battling to untie.

Late Anthony, a father of three including a Naval Officer, Tunbosun, Ajibola a graduate of the Federal University of Technology Akure, and Miss Moyosore an undergraduate of the same university was reportedly burnt while sleeping in the sitting room of his house located at Osinle in Akure, the Ondo State capital between 9pm and 10pm that Monday.

Until he met his untimely  death, the deceased was the Registrar (Economics Teacher) at Becky Parker College, Akure. The over 25 year old institution is owned by another Ghanaian, Chief Quayson Parker.

Vanguard learnt that the gruesome death of Ackon  has raised many questions that are begging for answers.

Queries are raised as to why the wife who was in the same house failed to come to his rescue until tenants in their house who heard his distress calls broke the window blades of the sitting room and reportedly poured water through it to quench the raging fire. Regrettably, by the time they broke down one of the doors in his apartment to rescue him, the fire had ravaged his body leaving him half dead.

Mysterious fire incident

His tenants and other residents in Osinle Community where the deceased house is situated are asking if the death of Ackon was a suicide, pre-arranged or  was he destined to die in that horrible manner.

The last two children who were in the house the night their father died reportedly left home hurriedly less than an hour before the mysterious fire incident started .

Ajibola, the second child was said to have received a call from the church to report there that night while the baby of the house and the closest to the deceased, Moyosore was also reportedly told to return to school that same night.

The couple who were the only ones in the whole house reportedly slept in different rooms.

While Ackon slept in the sitting room where he was later burnt alive, the wife, Kemi slept in another room and was untouched by the fire.

Ackon a staunch supporter of Arsenal Football Club according to reliable source has reportedly been having some family issues which include marital and financial for sometime before the alleged domestic accident  which sent him to the great beyond.

The landlord of the building used for the school he founded- Best Legacy Secondary School located at Ijoka area of the Akure metropolis reportedly ejected him for failing to settle outstanding rents.

Also an unconfirmed source alleged that he and the wife had been having some irreconcilable differences over the ownership and running of the school, hence his decision to go back to seek for employment from his kinsman in Becky Parker College where he left many years ago to establish his own school.

But another source said that it was a joint decision between the couple that the deceased should work in Becky parker to earn more money for the family and at the same time be a part time teacher in their own school during his free periods.

The family source who spoke in confidence denied that the couple had some issues as regards the ownership and running of the school.

He told Vanguard that the couple may  actually be having some financial problems but they are best of friends and that the death of the husband remained a mystery to the family especially the wife.

Cause of the inferno

It was gathered that Ackon started as one of the foundation staff of Becky Parker College before he opted out to establish his own school which later allegedly became an issue between the couple .

Narrating how the late Ackon died, a source said that he slept on a student foam on the floor in the sitting room and lit a candle which was placed on the floor which tiled.

What sparked off the inferno and what held him down that he could not run for his life when the house was in flame at about 10pm remained a puzzle.

Also said to be a puzzle was why the wife who was in the same house but in the bedroom was oblivious of what was happening to the husband in the sitting room.

Vanguard learnt that the tenants after failing to quench the raging fire had to break down the entrance door to the house.

It was gathered that the tenants later discovered that the wife was  in the  house while the fire was raging but she was not affected.

She reportedly told the tenants that by the time she noticed the fire all she could do was to run for her life first and  seek for the help  of people for her husband.

However, before help could reach Ackon, he was said to have been badly burnt  but was still breathing.

He was rushed to the state hospital in Akure but after  first aid treatment he was referred to the trauma centre in Ondo town because the severity of the injuries left him between life and death.

Ackon according to source did not make it to the trauma centre in Ondo before he died.

The vehicle that was taking him to the trauma centre had to make a U-turn after it was confirmed that he had died. He corpse was later deposited at the state Specialist hospital in Akure.   He was later buried in front of his house at Osinle, in Akure last week.

His friend for over 27 years and kinsman who was his former employer, the proprietor of Becky Parker College, Chief Quayson  Parker, confirmed that the deceased neither drank nor smoked and wondered what held him down in the sitting room when the mysterious fire started that he  could not flee.

He described the death of Ackon as mysterious, gruesome and unfortunate.

Another Ghanaian friend of the deceased who confided in Vanguard said that the deceased lived a discrete life and shut out his kinsmen .

He noted that the deceased abandoned his kinsman and refused to even attend meetings called  to discuss matters pertaining to their country.

“He refused to share his problems with anybody. We do not know what he was going through. But we discovered he was not happy and he is always looking stressed,’’ he said.

Some of his former students  described him as very quiet, brilliant and a “ born teacher”.

They confessed that he teaches economics with ease and gives practical examples to drive home his points..

The proprietor of Becky Parker, Chief Parker told Vanguard that the custom in Ghana was that if any of them is to be buried outside their country, his finger nail and some strands of hair on the  head would be removed before burial and taken to their country also for burial.

Practical examples

But in the case of Ackon because of the gravity of the fire, only his finger nail was secured while the hair  had been consumed by the inferno.

Efforts to speak with Kemi, the wife, proved abortive as she was said to have relocated from their Osinle home to another area after the burial of the husband. She and the three children attended the burial of her late husband.

Ackon kinsmen however trooped to the ceremony to bid him farewell .  The State Police Command  said the death of the teacher in the inferno was not reported in any of the divisional police stations in the Akure metropolis.

It’s image maker Femi Joseph told Vanguard that the family did not report the incident in any of police divisional stations maybe because no foul play was suspected by them.

He, however, promised to get back to Vanguard after checking from the DPO but was unable before this report.

Culled from Vanguard