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Fire guts Tejuosho market in Lagos
•Traders allege sabotage
FUNKE ODUWOLE, CHIKE ONWUEGBUCHI, Lagos
and NKIRU OKEKE, Enugu
A MYSTERY fire yesterday gutted
the popular Tejuosho Market, Yaba, Lagos, consuming goods which value was put at
several millions of Naira, even as the traders suspected sabotage.
The okrika (fairly-used clothes) section of the burstling
market was severely affected with Gov. Bola Tinubu dashing to the scene to
inspect the extent of destruction.
Also, another fire at a vandalised
pipeline at Agbani, Enugu State, saw eight persons sustain severe burns.
The governor told the afflicted traders
that his administration would reconstruct the affected parts of the market with
proper replanning, hinting that a three-storey edifice would spring up to
replace the burnt-out area.
The fire, according to some of the
market’s security men started between 2.00 a.m. and 3.00 a.m., yesterday and "it
razed the entire extension as help did not come on time."
As at the time Gov. Tinubu got there,
around 11.00 a.m., both the federal and state fire services were already on site
trying to put out the fire.
Mr. Raimi Abolarinwa told Daily Champion
that when they were informed of the fire and as they got there at about 5.30
a.m., some area boys (social miscreants) refused them entry into the market.
"It was when some policemen came" that the
gate was opened for us and when we entered, there was no road for our vehicle to
get to the point of fire as recently constructed key-clamped stalls have closed
up the space vehicles could pass through," he recounted.
According to Abolarinwa, it was later when
more vehicles came that they were able to run pipes through the market to
control the fire.
Also speaking, chairman of Tejuosho Market
Traders Association, Mr. Chukwuma Osuji, said he suspected sabotage and pleaded
that the traders be allowed to rebuild the market to enable them commence
business early enough.
On his part, Chairman of Itire-Ikate and
Surulere local government areas Messrs. Kayode Oseni and Wazee Uthman, said they
suspected that the fire could be the handiwork of opponents of the Alliance for
Democracy (AD) in Lagos.
They claimed that the fire could have been
easily put out but for the lack of space within the market extension.
Gov. Tinubu, however, lamented the
colossal loss, but noted that the market would be replanned and rebuilt as the
inferno could have been averted easily if it was adequately planned.
The governor warned the traders not to
venture rebuilding the market on their own, saying "the Ministry of Physical
Planning and Urban Development must go to the drawing board to replan the
market."
Commissioner for Special Duties, Chief
Dele Ajomale said before anything could be done "we will have to find out the
cause of the fire; this is very important to prevent a reoccurrence of the
incident."
The government said two committees would
be inaugurated to draw up list of affected traders and the other to find out the
remote and immediate cause of the fire.
Eight people sustained burns in Enugu when
a vandalised Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipeline at Agbani
caught fire.
When Daily Champion visited the scene of
the incident yesterday, the fire was still raging while fire fighters from the
state and NNPC fire services were battling to put it out.
Some members of the community told Daily
Champion that the fire started at about 6.00 a.m. yesterday when some people
with bush lamps went to scoop fuel from the ruptured pipeline.
Miss Nkechi Nnaji, a member of the
community said that a man and three of his children suffered burns, adding that
the victims mistook the fuel gushing out from the pipe to be kerosine.
She also disclosed that the victims were
rushed to the Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, for medical attention.
Maintenance engineer of NNPC, Enugu depot,
Mr. Babatunde Olatona, an engineer, who spoke to Daily Champion, said that they
got report yesterday morning that some persons had vandalised the 190.5 pipeline
from Port Harcourt to Enugu, installed a valve at the pipeline and were loading
fuel from it into their tankers.
Olatona disclosed that the fire must have
started after the tanker drivers left and the villagers took over to scoop
petrol, adding that no arrest has so far been made.
When Daily Champion visited the police
station at Agbani and the palace of the traditional ruler, the Divisional Police
Officer (DPO) and the royal father were said to be absent.
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