A medical doctor and conference director at Postpartum Support Network Africa, Ijeoma Idaresit and her daughters – a toddler and a baby – have died in their home in Parkview, Ikoyi, Lagos following an electrical fault that occurred on the 13th of December, 2020.
A friend of the deceased Olatoun Gabi-Williams, in a tribute posted on Facebook, alleged that the Lagos State Fire Service arrived late.
She wrote, “On Saturday, December 12, 2020, we lost a dearly loved one, Ijeoma Idaresit née Ejekam, our African Book Group librarian and cherished friend to all of us.
“The tragic death of Ijeoma, fondly known as Ije, occurred at her Park View residence when due to an electrical fault, a fire started, quickly consuming the entire building with Ije and her two beautiful daughters – a toddler and a baby – indoors, upstairs. The fire brigade showed up 20 minutes too late: by the time they managed to get upstairs to rescue the young family, it was too late.”
However, a spokesman for the Lagos State Fire Service Ahmodu Shakiru said the fire service could not be blamed for the incident.
He said: “That is the usual accusation, but the point is that we are not yet operating digital so, we rely on public information and time of response is a factor of many things from who discovered the emergency and what action was taken and what time the alarm is raised.”
Meanwhile, tributes have continued to pour in for the medical doctor on social media.
The doctor, according to her LinkedIn profile, graduated from Igbinedion Secondary School, Benin, in 2000 and then proceeded to the University of Nigeria in 2001 and obtained a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 2008.
She later attended the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, where she obtained a Master of Science in Public Health.
Idaresit, in her profile, described her reason for studying medicine.
“Becoming a doctor has been a childhood dream come true. The prospect of making a difference in people’s lives has always given me a thrill. Call it a God complex, I call it my vocation,” Idaresit wrote in her LinkedIn profile.