By Tola Gbadamosi

|

The  73-year-old grandmother identified as Iforiti, who set her middle-aged son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren ablaze at Aponmu community in Akure South local government area of Ondo State, has passed on.

An authoritative source disclosed to The Hope Metro that the grandma gave up the ghost at the weekend in an undisclosed hospital.

The septuagenarian was reported to have sustained some degrees of burns  and was taken  to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owo for medical attention.

It would be recalled about a week ago that the 73-year-old woman who lives with her son and his family at Aponmu, along Ondo-Akure road, allegedly set the house ablaze while the family was asleep.

Some neighbours who broke into the house through the window, rescued the family; the woman’s  son, Victor Oloro; wife, Rachael; and children, Toluwani and Blessing who were taken to FMC, leaving the grandma who sustained minor injury behind.

Unfortunately, the son and his wife gave up the ghost, while the children receiving treatment and are responding well.

The aged woman, Iforiti, while speaking with journalists after the incident, confessed that she burnt her son and his family because they were starving her.

Recall an eyewitness who was at the scene of the incident, Korede Michael, narrated,  “I saw the house on fire around 2:00am at the weekend and had to break the window to rescue everyone in the house.

“The woman, her son, Victor Oloro; her daughter-in-law, Rachael; and children, Toluwani and Blessing, were all in the house when she set it on fire.

“She got some dry palm fronds and the little petrol her son kept in a gallon (for generator), spread it around the house and then put fire to it.

“I was the first person to notice the fire and jumped into the house before other members of the community joined me in rescuing them.

“We got a vehicle immediately to convey them to the government hospital in Akure.

Korede explained further that “when we got to Akure (UNIMED Annex), the doctors and nurses rejected the patients, saying they could not take care of them due to the degree of the burns and advised that we take them to the Federal Medical Center in Owo.

“On Sunday, the son and his wife gave up the ghost, while the grandchildren were in critical condition.”

It was also reported, that the suspected woman, Iforiti, who was not in any way affected by the fire was said to have attempted suicide sometimes in 2022 by jumping into a well, but was rescued by neighbours.

Korede said  the children could not send the woman out of the house when she started behaving strangely because it was built by her late husband.