A fire destroyed at least 15 shops at the Oba Lipede Market in Kuto, Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Saturday night.
One person was injured, and goods worth several millions of Naira were lost in the blaze.
The fire started around 10:15 PM from one of the makeshift shops outside the main market. According to an eyewitness, the fire broke out due to a power surge in a palm kernel shop that was using gas.
An eyewitness said, “It was a power surge. There is a palm kernel shop that was doing recycling and the guy was using gas. There was an outbreak of fire, and everything just exploded.”
The fire destroyed goods including rice, provisions, bananas, and pots. Some traders were seen weeping over their losses on Sunday morning.
Basiru and Tolani Moses, a couple who had shops next to each other, lost N500,000 cash and goods worth N1.5 million in the fire. Basiru explained, “The cash was kept in the shop for onward deposit at the bank on Monday.”
The market leader, Mrs. Tejumade Bakre, mentioned there was looting after the fire, but security agents later controlled the situation.
Officials, including the Commissioner for Special Duties, Funmi Efuwape, and the Director of the State Emergency Management Agency, Wale Sonde, visited the market to assess the damage.
Efuwape noted, “The fire outbreak was just because of these shanties erected outside the main market building. Now that they (traders) have seen it for themselves, I am sure when the government comes in and tells them that all these shanties must go, definitely they will agree with us that they have to go.
“About ten shops were affected outside and five inside. The five would not have been affected if the ones outside were not there. The fire started from the illegal structures outside and erupted to the main building.”
She also said that the main market building will undergo an integrity test to ensure its safety, and the government will take measures to renovate the market.
The Fire Service chief, Fatai Adefala, explained, “We were called around 10:15 PM and our men got here on time, but the problem was that we could not access the market on time, so we had to go through the back to trace where it started from.
“It was a power surge. There is a palm kernel shop that was doing recycling and the guy was using gas. There was an outbreak of fire, and everything just exploded. That’s where it started from. Those are the shanties outside the main Lipede market.”
