A man in his 40s, out of frustration set himself, and his lover ablaze because she refused to marry him.
The man, Nicodemus Nomyange but fondly known as Nico, had been in a love relationship with the young nurse named Priscilla Shiminenge Pam.
It was gathered that, Priscilla has refused to marry her lover, and had been in another relationship since Nico was married with three children.
Nico, who would not take no for answer was said to have traveled to another part of the Benue State where his wife resides, to divorce her just to marry Priscilla.
His divorce did not change the mind of her ex-lover who has planned to marry her new man in December when she will also celebrate her 35th birthday.
Nico, a staff of Millennium Guest House in Makurdi, however went to her ex-lover’s house and begged her to prepare food for him to eat.
While the lady was busy preparing yam, Nico went to buy petrol, and neighbours thought it could be that he wants to use it to power generator, but on getting to the lady’s room, he locked the door, soaked himself and his lover in fuel while the lady screamed for help.
A source said “I heard her scream in Tiv language, calling for help. When I ran to her door step, alongside other neighbours, we discovered that the door was locked and the man had soaked the room, himself and the lady with the fuel. In a bid to save them, we broke the door and at that point, the man lit the matches in his hand and the fire overwhelmed them.
“We (neighbours) became helpless; we couldn’t help them any longer as we turned our attention to saving the entire building from being overtaken by the fire,” he said.
