A man simply identified as Joshua has allegedly set his wife and 11-year-old daughter on fire in Ogun State.

It was learnt that Joshua poured petrol on his wife, Gbemisola Edwards, daughter and seven-year-old son and set them ablaze after a disagreement.

However, their son escaped the fire.

According to him, his stepfather had wanted his mother to sell their three-bedroom apartment, but she refused.

He said, “It was the scream of my mother that woke me up. Dolapo and Samson were also set ablaze. I wanted to put out the fire when my stepfather poured petrol on me as well. Before he returned with matches, I managed to escape and reported at the Ifo Police Station.

“He was working with a factory but was sacked some months ago. He then told my mother to sell the house so that he could use the money to start a business. But my mother said she would never sell the house she struggled to build.

“We moved into the house in January. The following month, he and Samson started living with us. It was a woman at our former residence in Iyana Ipaja (Lagos State) that bore Samson for him. He used to beat mum while we were in Iyana Ipaja.”

It was gathered that Joshua fled immediately after the incident.

Gbemisola’s brother, Wale, said Joshua was fond of beating his dead wife.

He said, “Their relationship had been fraught with quarrels since when he was living with my sister in our house at Iyana Ipaja. There was a time he threatened to kill her with a machete. He stole her money and fled.

“When he knew my sister had built a house, he went there to reconcile with her. She insisted that they needed to go to the registry which they did in February. I visited my sister two weeks ago. She said her husband had been threatening her again and that she had told him to leave by the end of August.

“It was on Thursday afternoon that I got a call that he set her and the children ablaze.”

The Ogun State Police Command’s acting spokesperson, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the command has started a search for Joshua.

He said, “We learnt the man and his wife had a quarrel over the ownership of the house they lived in. While the family was asleep, the man poured patrol on the living room and set it ablaze. As a result, the woman and the two children suffered first degree burns. The Commissioner of Police has ordered that the suspect be fished out. He can only run, he cannot hide.”