Wednesday, December 19, 2018 is a day and date that would never be forgotten by victims of an inferno that occurred at Abule- Egba, Lagos suburb, occasioned by the leakage of a petroleum products’ pipeline caused by vandals in desperation to earn a living through heinous crimes.
The most affected person by the unfortunate incident was a young, budding entrepreneur, James Adeosun, Chief Executive Officer, Pillar Automobiles who ran a car sales business at the scene.
FirstNigeriaTV’s Ojomo, Olusegun Adebambo met with this young man whom many believed had died during the mishap as he lost property worth over N100million to the unfortunate incident, and reports:
The following is also a full account of Adeosun’s ordeal and what he has been going through since 2018:
Wednesday 19, December 2018 was a devastating day.
As a result of the horrible activities of pipeline vandals in the midnight of Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 December 2018, after their illicit act, PMS leaked into the gutters and travelled unbelievably past my car lot at Abule Egba, then towards abattoir Agege, caught fire at Agege where Hausa men were burning cattle hides and skin (panmo) and then the fire traced back the fuel to Awori, but unfortunately at the exact location of my car mart the fuel rose above the gutter and flooded my car mart. This was exactly how my entire office, my labour, my sweat for more than a decade got totally engulfed and burnt beyond salvage.
At the sight of the magnitude of the fire disaster that left my car mart in ruins, the only thing left to be salvaged as bitter tears rolled down our faces was the memories of how I laboured for 15 years without support from family, friends nor government to bring the business into existence; the many unemployed graduates that I had trained to be independent, successful car dealers today; how I welcomed with opened arms several car dealers who could not afford an office space to use my car mart as though it was theirs and how my business was and the reality of the present.
I couldn’t believe I could be back to zero after working tirelessly with due diligence and integrity for fifteen years…
Pillar Automobiles was not run as just any other car mart, we were all graduates that decided not to add to the population of unemployed Nigerians. We created jobs for ourselves and others. We are registered with Lagos State Automobiles Dealership Licencing Office, running legitimately, paying annual dues and adding value to the state and country.
Pillar Automobiles was a confluence of dilligent, hardworking and trustworthy individuals. That was my dream when I started the business and I was already living the dream until the fire disaster……
Questions that constantly pop up in my mind are where do I start from , how do I pay up a debt of about 100 million. how do I rebuild this business?…..
I am wondering in the land of confusion, I am really scratching my head and already reaching my skull bone…. please someone.. SAVE MY SOUL, I am running totally out of sanity.
Government agencies that came around, came just for excursion nothing positive yet ooooooo……
NNPC did not even show up to take responsibility for their negligence because there was no way a pipeline would burst and they wouldn’t know about it. There is a LEAK DETECTION SYSTEM which gives signal to bursted PMS pipelines. Surely they didn’t do their job!
Please fellow NIGERIANS help me cry out to government ooooooo I really need financial intervention. Please I have No one who can help. Please if you have the connection help me reach out to government for help.
I strongly believe that the collective cry and clamour of all Nigerians will reach the ears of the government… Please help me reach whosoever you can reach and God will bless you all.
Thank you all for your assistance.
God will not allow fire to burn your labour.
Adeosun James, Pillar Automobiles
Adeosun also told FirstNigeriaTV that he had gotten in touch with the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Adeola Yayi, Chief of Staff to LASG and a host of other top government functionaries on the unfortunate incident but respite was yet to come his way.
“I am also very grateful to the Vice President, NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, Chief Arowojobe Peters and some industry friends for immense assistance they rendered me all through the ordeal”, he added.
