The atmosphere in Isiekwulu village, Ukpo community in Dunukofia LGA of Anambra State, was indeed soaked in deep sorrow on Friday, 30 January 2026.
It was the day the funeral was held in the area for a widow and her five children who lost their lives tragically in a candlelight disaster in their residence in faraway Ouagadougou, the Burkina Faso capital, on 23 December 2025.
The deceased were Mrs Akubue Uchenna Ngozichukwu, 47, and her five children: Justin Onyinyechukwu, 18, Victor-Mary Chidike, 9, Chinenye Joan, 16, Chiemerie Victory, 16, and Chidimma Epiphania, 6.
Before the tragic death of Uchenna and her five children, her husband, Innocent Chinedu, had died just two years ago.
Innocent, aged 50 years old according to his cousin, Elder Paul Uche Akubue, also died in Burkina Faso.
Four years before Innocent died, he had built a very beautiful modern one-storey building in his Isiekwulu village for his family’s comfort, expecting they would visit home from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso whenever they could.
Sadly, however, he died just four years after completing the mansion. And, more devastating again, his widow and five children were later to die just two years after his own demise. They died tragically in a fire disaster that engulfed their residence in the foreign land. The disaster was caused by just a candlelight according to Paul.
Paul, who narrated the tragedy of his cousin Innocent and his family said that Innocent was the last of his parents’ four children to die.
He said that Innocent’s parents had four children: three boys and a girl. Innocent was the second child. And before Innocent died two years ago, he had lost his other three siblings.
Innocent, according to him, left their Isiekwulu village and travelled to Lagos, where he established a business. He later relocated to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. He was a devout Catholic. And he was into the Motor spare parts business.
He was in Ouagadougou before he got married to Uchenna. Both of them hailed from the Ukpo community. They had all five of their children in the faraway city of Ouagadougou.
Equally very sad, Innocent’s parents died some years earlier.
So, with the demise of Innocent’s widow and his five children, the only thing now standing in memory of Innocent and his family is his beautiful one-storey building.
On the double gate leading into the two-storey building is a bold inscription, “If Not Jesus.”
On one of the sides of the perimeter fence is another bold inscription, “Blessed Trinity Is Alive”.
As a mark of the popularity and love of Innocent and his family, a delegation of South East states people resident in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Togo accompanied the remains of Uchenna and her five children back to their village in Ukpo for their burial and funeral ceremony.
Elder Paul said that the Burkinab government had planned a mass burial ceremony for Uchenna and her children in that country, but that the Igbo indigenes refused the arrangement.
“It cost N33.8million to bring home the corpses of my cousin’s widow and her five children from Ouagadougou. And the money was paid by the Igbos of Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo and Mali. They tried a lot for us.
“They called me and said that the government of that country said that they want to hold a mass burial for them (my cousin’s widow and her five children), but that they (Igbos resident in Burkina Faso) said, no. I told them that I, myself, don’t want them to be buried there. I want their corpses to be brought home, no matter what it will cost”.
Paul described the demise of Uchenna and her children as very tragic.
“It is a big shock to me to lose six people the same day. I don’t know how to explain it; all I know is that it has happened.
”My cousin was just 50-something years old when he died. His widow was 48 years old”.
Sounding devastated though expressing strong faith in God, Paul said, “As it is now, the only thing remaining in memory of my Innocence and his family is this one story-building”.
He, however, said that the tragedy will never diminish his faith in God.
“How can it diminish my faith in Christ Jesus.? I’m an Anglican, and I’m an elder in the Church.
“It can’t diminish my faith in Christ; what has happened has happened. God knows what happened; He knows everything; there’s no way I can blame Him. That’s why I say “God knows the best. I am 70 years old now “, Paul said.
He, however, said that he has not been properly briefed about how the tragic circumstances that claimed his cousin’s widow and her five children happened.
He said, “On 23 December 2025, I received a telephone call from Burkina Faso that there was a tragedy in my brother’s (cousin’s) house – that my brother’s house had been burnt.
“That in the process, the police and army in that country didn’t allow them (those who called him on the phone) to enter the house for security reasons.
“It was later in the afternoon that I received a call again that all six of them had died – five children and their mother. They sent me the video.
“Since then, we have been struggling and planning how to bring their corpses back and do what we are supposed to do
“Igbos in Burkina Faso tried a lot because they told me that the government of that place (country) wanted to do a mass burial for them (my cousin’s deceased widow and her children), but they refused.
“I also told them that I don’t want mass burial for them in that country; that I want their corpses to be brought back home.
“In that process, we spent N33.8million just to bring them here and other necessary rites.
“Their father died two years ago in Burkina Faso. I don’t know what caused his death, but they said it was a sickness.
“Innocent wasn’t married before he travelled to Burkina Faso. He was living in Lagos, and later travelled to Burkina Faso.
”He later returned home and got married to Uchenna. Both of them (Innocent and his wife, Uchenna) came from Ukpo here; they were from this town”, Paul narrated further.
Uchenna’s younger sister, Mrs Onyinyechukwu Nwafor, was still in deep sorrow.
All she could say was, “My elder sister and her children have all gone (dead).
”It is only the security man and the other person who has been taking care of this their house for them that will be here when we all go to our different houses”.
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