BY: Our Reporter, Calabar
Consolation messages from friends and families, have continued to trail the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth Development and Skills Acquisition in Cross River, Comrade Samuel Egbala and family for having escaped death in a fire incident recently.
Property and other valuables worth millions of Naira were destroyed during the ugly incident.
Eyewitness account told Our Reporter the inferno erupted from electrical malfunction occasioned by the hash current that sparked the uncontrollable fire in his residence around People’s Club in Calabar the state capital.
Egbala who spoke with Journalists in Calabar thanked God that no life was lost in the infeno, expressing appreciation to his neighbours and youths in the area who rose to the occasion.
He however lamented the huge loss of domestic possessions that were burnt to their debris.
As fresh facts emerge from the devastating episode, sympathisers have been wearied over Egbala’s predicament in the recent past, having lost two cars to the dreaded #EndSARS protest which razed the complex of the State Newspaper Corporation to the ground in Calabar.
Meanwhile, several messages of consolation have trailed the veteran Journalist and former Vice President (East) of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE).
Reacting to the fire incident, the Chairman, Cross River State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Gill Nsa, implored Egbala to consider the incident as an act of God, urging him to pick up courage and move on regardless of the prevailing circumstance.
Nsa who conveyed the sympathy of the NUJ leadership to its former Chairman also enjoined all journalists in the state to continue to commit members in prayer against such dangerous occurrences.
A veteran team player in journalism and first female Editor-in-Chief, Chronicle Group of Newspapers, Calabar, Florence Oluohu, thanked God for His mercy upon the family of Comrade Egbala.
“While bemoaning the loss, we thank God for the life all members of the family . The devil will always arrive late, she stated”.
Oluohu who is also a member of Guild of Editors conveyed her heart felt felicitations to the former Chief Editor on behalf of other members of the Guild in the state.
A veteran Journalist and renowned Fellow of the Lions Club of Hilltop, District 404, Calabar, Chief Sam Arikpo has joined other well-wishers across the country to register his sympathy over the the fire incident which he described as unfortunate.
Other concerns were raised from the leadership of Chronicle Chapel of NUJ, among other Unions as NUPPPROW, Association of Senior Civil Servants and the entire Staff of the newspaper Corporation from where Egbala was elevated to the rank of Permanent Secretary.
