Not less than 38 shops at the popular Bodija market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were razed by fire Monday morning.
Goods worth millions of naira in the affected shops were completely razed before the arrival of officers and men of the Oyo State Fire Service, according to eyewitnesses.
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The inferno reportedly began around 4:30am with the fire starting from the Ori-Ile end of the market. The first sign of the fire was a heavy smoke, which later turned into a thick flame.
However, the cause of the fire incident is yet to be ascertained as some described it as a mystery.
Many traders rushed to the market when they heard about the incident with a view to preventing criminals from taking advantage of the incident to loot their shops.
Although, some of the traders commended the firefighters for their timely response, adding they prevented the inferno from spreading to other parts of the market.
A trader in the market, who identified himself as Abdullahi Akande, said: “I heard about the fire incident around 5:00am. I rushed down to this place immediately. But how the gore started I did not know. But my shop was on fire when I got here.
“I could not move closer. But everything had been completely razed in the shop before help came from firefighters.
“Honestly, I don’t know where to start again. Everything gone. Again, I kept a large sum of money in the shop because I did not want to spend it during the Ileya festival.
“I will not disclose the amount because people will blame me. If I had known, I would have taken the money home.
Let me appeal to the government and individuals to help us to start life again,” he lamented.
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