A well-known market in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, has seen the complete demolition of over 40 stores.
The incident that occurred on Saturday at the well-known Oranyan market, herbal section, in the state’s Ibadan North East Local Government Area destroyed multimillion-naira property and herbs, despite the fact that no lives were lost.
market, on Monday, the shop owners were seeing in a different group, gnashing their teeth over the unfortunate incident.
Nobody could speak on what led to the inferno.
As there was not a single food vendor in the market, some of the victims, including the market youth leader Fatimoh Adebimpe, Kafaya Lucky, and Kehinde Moronfade, bemoaned the fact that the cause of the fire incident was still unknown.
Adebimpe, the youth leader, bemoaned, “We normally resume here around 7.00 am and close by 7.00 pm as well.” She claimed to have been in the market since 1979. Whenever they ring the bell or you hear the sound of the bell in the evening, you must take your leave. Approximately 10.0 p.m., those departing from the market began calling us from our various homes, alerting us to the market’s fire. Some of us had already left.
“What could have caused this? We are not connected to the national grid, because it’s a taboo. We are not using electricity. Nobody is selling food here. So, we are still in total confusion.
“I cannot say this is what I lost in that fire. I just bought some things like full tiger skin; and many other things that I may not want in the paper.
“Though, the local government officials who control this area were here this morning (Monday), and they promised to do something. We are hopeful.”
Another victim, Lucky, said, “I have a lot of money in the shop. The reason why we always keep money there is because of hunters who normally bring different animals for us.
“If you are unable to pay immediately, they may take it to another person. Forget whether he is your customer. So, you must always have money with you. That’s why we are keeping money in the shops.”
Moronfade said, “I just got a loan on Friday, and this disaster happened the next day. It’s so pathetic. No traces of burning or cooking in the market. Honestly, I’m devastated.”
According to Yemi Akinyinka, the General Manager of the state Fire Services, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent in Ibadan, the Fire Services Headquarters received a fire emergency call at precisely 23:25 hours on the incident.
“Out of several adjourning rows of shops, the incident affected 20 prefabricated shops,” he stated.
“There were losses in property valued at millions of naira, but billions of naira worth of property were spared, and no lives were lost.” Our personnel returned back to the station at exactly 3:36hrs.”
Published by Ejoh Caleb
