The heartbreaking final words of Kehinde Adeoye, one of the six United Capital Plc staff who perished in last week’s devastating fire at Afriland Towers on Broad Street, Lagos Island, have been revealed.
Adeoye, 36, a mother of two who had only just returned from three months of maternity leave, reportedly called her husband frantically after becoming trapped in a smoke-filled room during the inferno.
According to her friend, Tife Ogunjimi, who paid tributes on X, Adeoye told her husband in Yoruba, “Bami toju awon omo yen” — meaning “Take care of the kids for me” — as she began to lose strength from smoke inhalation. Moments later, she fell unconscious.
Although the fire never reached the room she was in, the thick smoke suffocated her. When rescuers finally got to her, she showed no signs of burns or injuries, but attempts to revive her failed.
Adeoye’s colleagues who also lost their lives in the tragedy were identified as Jesutoni Shodipo, 21; Ndidi Osaemedike-Okeke, 41; Olumide Oyefodunrin, 27; Opeyemi Oloyede, 26; and Rebecca Adenuga, 26.
United Capital, in a statement, described the six deceased employees as cherished members of its family. “Though they have departed, the moments we shared remain deeply etched in our hearts,” the company said, pledging to honour their memories and support their families.
It would be recalled that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) also lost four senior staff members in the same tragic incident, which has been described as one of Lagos Island’s most harrowing fire disasters in recent years.
