From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
It was like the biblical fire from hell descending on the house of God in the dead of the night, consuming priestly property worth several millions of naira.
Some congregants of Dodd’s Methodist Memorial Cathedral, Uzuakoli, in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, had, on the night of July 5, ended a night prayer session, otherwise known as vigil.
The congregants had hardly said their last prayers for the night about 2am when they noticed flames from the office of the bishop, just after electricity was restored to the area.
The incident turned the worshippers into emergency firefighters. And as they could not contend with the inferno, they had to alert nearby residents, who helped in putting out the fire.
Before the fire was quenched, much damage had been done, consuming property worth over N10 million, including gold plates and cups used for holy communion.
Speaking on the incident, the Bishop of Uzuakoli Methodist Diocese, Rt. Rev. (Dr.) Anyanwu James Alozie, who was visibly shaken by the incident, lamented the big loss to his diocese and the cathedral in the inferno.
“Over N10 million worth of property was destroyed at Diocesan Cathedral of Methodist Church, Nigeria, Uzuakoli Diocese.
“During the fire outbreak, property of the church and all important documents kept inside the bishop’s office and another adjoining office, were consumed by the fire,” he said.
The bishop, who conducted journalists round the burnt building, noted that the fire started at 2am as a result of power surge in the bishop’s office, following the restoration of power to the area.
Alozie noted that different electronic appliances and land documents, as well as church registers, were burnt to ashes during the inferno.
He added that gold plates and cups used for holy communion and other valuables worth about N10 million went up in flames.
Despite the material losses the church suffered, Alozie was appreciative to God that no body died during the fire. He thanked the members of his church and natives of Uzuakoli for bringing the inferno under control.
“Everything in my office was completely burnt. Electronics, important church documents, files and registers were all burnt. It was the efforts of church members and people from this community that stopped the fire from spreading to the altar and into the entire church hall,” the bishop said.
He said the Uzuakoli Methodist Diocese, particularly the Dodds Cathedral, was devastated by the incident.
The bishop appealed to Abia State government, corporate organisations and notable individuals to assist his church in replacing the destroyed property: “I appeal to the government and good hearted individuals and other organizations to assist us in this time of pain. We lost a lot to this fire incident.”
The presbyter in charge of Dodds Memorial Cathedral, Very Reverend Chibuike Joseph, narrated how the inferno happened.
“We just finished our night prayers and we were resting. Suddenly, there was a surge and there was fire from the bishop’s office from where it spread to the other office.
“We did everything we could to stop the fire and members of the community came and assisted us in overcoming the fire. Eventually, we controlled it from spreading to the altar. But, unfortunately, several costly equipment and various documents were destroyed. You can see the destruction all over.”
However, a greater part of the cathedral building was not affected by the fire, as efforts of church faithful and natives of Uzuakoli drawn from different denominations saved the main church building from going down in flames.
Sympathisers thronged the venue of the incident to see things for themselves, as burnt files, charred electronic gadgets and other valuables were seen scattered on the ground.
The villagers expressed utter disgust over the fire incident which they said was the first of its kind in the area.
A veteran journalist and former reporter with New Nigeria Newspapers (NNN), Tony Igbokwe, described the fire incident as unfortunate.
“What happened in the Cathedral is quite unfortunate. As you can see, property worth several millions of naira were destroyed in the inferno and these things are not easy to be replaced,” he said.
Igbokwe, who is a native of the area, said the inferno was devastating and called for assistance from government and corporate organisations.