- In most cases, we ignorantly or carelessly, invite danger into our homes or care less about safety in our environment.
By Moshood Isamotu
Rev. Sunday Olomojare is a Lagos State retired civil servant and a Senior Minister at Total Gospel Bible Church in Lagos. Pension payment or not, he is one of the few privileged retired senior citizens, who are enjoying the fruits of their labour after a meritorious public service.
Thank God he is in good health, living in a palatial mansion, and still strong at 65. After his daily routine, he usually savors the coolness of the evening under a mango tree in his courtyard on Ososa Street, Ijegun, a Lagos suburb community.
August 12, 2023, was like any of such cool evenings except that the weather was very friendlier. Around 4 pm on that day, Rev. Olomojare sat under the tree shadow relaxing after eating his favorite Okitipupa native delicacy, pupuru, a variant of akpu, with vegetable and salmon fish. With a glass of Eva wine in his hand and making a ball dance to Comfort Omoge’s album, he felt a sudden urge to move around his expansive floral garden and tend to his caged Rex rabbit.
A few steps away from the seat, his full overhead 300 tonnes water tank capacity fell on his executive riser recliner chair and crushed it flat. The sound of the fall attracted neighbors who thought it was a gas explosion. Rev. Olomojare and his holidaying granddaughter, who was coming to greet Grandpa, were divinely saved by the skin of their teeth from sudden death. It was nothing less than divine intervention that saved him from a domestic accident.
He gave this testimony at the ongoing Convention of Total Gospel Bible Church at Akoka, Lagos last Sunday. Thank God, Rev Olomojare didn’t attribute the cause of the near disaster to the principalities in high places or witches in his Okitipupa town. He identified the cause and fixed it. Halleluyah.
But Jamal Nureni, a 20-year-old resident of Alhaji Kazeem Street, Ikotun-Egbe, Lagos was however not that lucky as a water tank belonging to his neighbors fell and crushed him to death on June 23, 2023, while sleeping, thus crashing his dream of becoming an engineer (P.M News – June 19).
Also on August 10, a collapsed overhead water storage tank crushed a 34-year-old lady, Joy Amadi, to death in Benin, Edo state. The deceased was in her room when the tank in a neighbour’s building, collapsed, crushing her to death (Vanguard Aug. 10).
Similar calamities and dangers lurking in the neighborhood are often obvious but, on most occasions, we seem not to be conscious and give attention to them.
Some years ago, there was a very tall palm tree in an undeveloped plot of land beside my house. One evening it just occurred to me that if the tree should fall in my direction, it would be a great danger. I took up the responsibility to cut it. On several occasions too, I paid to clear the bush on the said plot of land I did not own just to prevent reptiles especially snakes from being my neighbours. I was just being very sensitive to the dangers in my neighborhood.
A former colleague’s refrigerator malfunctioned but he decided to manage it for a while. The wife came out of the bathroom one morning and touched the fridge. She was electrocuted instantly.
A security man at Magodo, Lagos told his Oga lawyer that the power generator was leaking fuel. He was asked to be managing it. One night, when the security had gone home, the lawyer attempted to power the generator, but it caught fire and burn him to death.
In most cases, we ignorantly or carelessly, invite danger into our homes or care less about safety in our environment. For example, some people throw dirt such as eggshells carelessly within the premises and provide a breeding ground for rodents, not knowing that eggshells and rodents attract snakes.
Some people don’t give attention to common safety issues such as soaking away, loose electric wires, or unprotected drainage that could be risky in their neighborhood. Some also keep stagnant water to breed mosquitoes and invite malaria as roommates. It could be holes in the wall fence that could serve as a hideout for snakes. We have also had some people keeping poisonous items within easy reach of kids.
Vigilance is the watchword here.
Today, check your environment and premises and take a list of what could portend dangers for you and members of your family.
Everything is not just about prayer. Wisdom is profitable to direct.
Happy weekend