One person was confirmed injured, while goods worth several millions of Naira were destroyed as no fewer than 15 shops were destroyed at the Oba Lipede Market, Kuto, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Vanguard reliably gathered that the inferno started around quarter past 10:00 pm on Saturday from one the makeshift shops outside the market.
According to an eyewitness, the fire outbreak followed a power surge in a palm kernel shop using gas.
It was gathered that some of the goods caught in the inferno included rice, provisions, bananas, pots among others.
During a visit to the market on Sunday morning, some traders were seen weeping over their losses.
A couple, Basiru and Tolani Moses, had their shops, located next to each other in the market, razed down by the fire.
Basiru said that N500,000 cash was burnt in the incident, while goods worth N1.5 million were affected.
He explained that the cash was kept in the shop for onward deposit at the bank on Monday.
The market leader, Mrs Tejumade Bakre, lamented that there was looting shortly after the incident, but the security agents later came to contain the situation.
The Commissioner for Special Duties, Funmi Efuwape, the Director of the State Emergency Management Agency (OGSEMA), Wale Sonde, Director of State Fire Service, Fatai Adefala, the Chairman of Abeokuta South Local Government, Omolaja Majekodunmi, were among those that visited the market on Sunday morning to assess the situation.
Speaking with newsmen, Efuwape said, “The fire outbreak was just because of these shanties erected outside the main market building. Now that they (traders) have seen it for themselves, I am sure when the government comes in and tells them that all these shanties must go, definitely they will agree with us that they have to go.
“About ten shops were affected outside and five inside. The five would not have been affected if the ones outside were not there. The fire started from the illegal structures outside and erupted to the main building.”
Efuwape disclosed that the main market building will undergo an integrity test to ascertain its safety, while the government will roll out measures to renovate the market.
The Fire Service chief, Adefala, said, “We were called around 10:15 pm and our men got here on time, but the problem was that we could not access the market on time so we had to go through the back to trace where it started from.
“It was a power surge. There is a palm kernel shop that was doing let’s say recycling and the guy was using gas, there was an outbreak of fire and everything just exploded. That’s where it started from. Those are the chalets outside the main Lipede market.”
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