admin11 shops in Sabo market, Sagamu, on Thursday, have been razed by fire, causing damage to the buildings and a bounty of goods, Ogunwatch gathered.
It was gathered that the fire which was caused by complications resulting from the supply of a high current of electricity, began around 12:30 am on Thursday and lasted till about 5:00 am when it was largely put off.
An eyewitness said it took the effort of local security men and youths in the environment to finally put off the fire, which lasted for about 4 hours.
Our correspondent who was at the scene at about 5:36 pm of the day, learned that even though some of the shops were still in flames, operatives of Ogun State Fire Service are yet to arrive at the scene.
Adefenwa Tajudeen, a market leader told Ogunwatch that the fire lasted that much and caused much distraction because of the absence of fire service operatives.
“We woke up at midnight to the alarm of local security men that fire was razing the market. What caused it? We discovered that it was a high current of the electricity supply that caused the fire.”
“Since there were no fire extinguishers nor firefighters and water in the area, we had to call on some youths and Hausa men. They were the ones who rescued us.”
“So as we were dismantling the roofing sheets, we discovered we didn’t have the capacity to put out the fire and that was why it lasted that much.”
“We are appealing to the government to provide available Fire service facilities around marketplaces in Ogun state. We have lost so much money to this fire.”
Also speaking to Ogunwatch, the Chief of Staff to the Akarigbo of Remo, who was present at the scene of the incident told our correspondent that fire service operatives in the state were called but no one responded.
Another top-ranking woman in the market association told Ogunwatch that goods worth over 500 Million Naira have been lost to the fire incident, which puts the Victims in a situation of loan default, since many traders depended on loan sharks to trade.
“The goods inside here are worth over 500 million to 1 billion Naira. Pointing to a nearby shop, she said: “ like this Igbo man now, what they had here is enormous and they weren’t around at the time; all the goods gone. We don’t even know what we are going to do for them and that is why we ordered all shops shut down for today and tomorrow..”
“We are appealing to the government to help the victims because in this market, many of them took Lapo and grooming and they might get locked in Police cells if they default.
When called by our correspondent, Segun Ayanbiyi, spokesperson of the Federal Fire Service, Ogun command, said they were not aware of the incident but claimed operatives of the Ogun State Fire service were present at the scene.
Efforts to get to the Ogun State Fire Service proved abortive as the agency spokesperson refused to pick our phone call.
At the time of filling this report, none of the Fire Service agencies have arrived the scene of the incident, Ogunwatch can confirm.
