Popular Ibadan Market Razed By Fire

A midnight fire on Friday consumed Orita-Aperin market in Ibadan, Oyo State, destroying goods worth millions of naira.

The incident comes a couple of week after a similar occurrence at Onipepeye bridge, along Lagos/Ibadan expressway, where some people were burnt to death.

The market leader, Abiodun Hammed, in an interview, said the cause of the incident was yet to be known.

“The fire started by 12 midnight on Friday, and we immediately called on Oyo State Fire Service but unfortunately, when they got here, the nozzle of their truck was not functioning, so we had to resolve to self-help by putting out the fire ourselves, or else, the loss would have been more than this,” he said.

Mr Hammed noted that most of the owners of the shops affected by the fire just bought goods.

The official appealed to the Oyo State government to come to their aid.

One of the victims, whose shop was also affected by the fire, Latifat Adegbola, appealed to the Oyo State government to assist them financially explaining that the cash she used to buy the affected goods was a loan.

“All my goods have been consumed by fire and the remaining ones are useless. We are calling on the state government to come to our aid so that we can survive,” she said.

Another, Mariam Oladepo, said she lost goods worth N100,000 to the inferno. She said she can no longer feed her family.