Fire Razes Alimosho Plank Market

Goods and properties worth over N100 million went up in flames as a midnight inferno razed down some parts of the popular Irewolede plank market in Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area, Alimosho, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

The fire which destroyed 100 out of the 270 lock-up shops in the market occurred in the midnight of Saturday.

The biggest casualty of the fire incident is Mrs. Bilikisu Adebayo, who lost four shops to the inferno.

Adebayo who sells building materials lamented how she lost both capital and goods worth over N10 million to the disaster.

According to her, she did not take the proceeds realised from the previous day’s sales home, adding that she had lost virtually all she had to the incident.

Her words: “My landlord called me at about 3 a.m. that our market was on fire but I couldn’t go out at that period of the night. When I got here around 5 a.m. I found out that all I had laboured for all my life has been consumed by the fire.”

Alhaji Oluode Afolabi, a glass merchant, Mrs. Olagunju Idowu, a plywood and carpentry accessories seller and Mr. Ayo Olowookueko while speaking with our correspondent, said they lost N4 million, N700,000 and N500,000 respectively to the fire disaster.

They all called on the state government to come to their aid as they have nothing to fall back on or feed their respective families again.

According to the chairman, Irewolede plank market, Alhaji Kareem Bakare, “we don’t know how it happened and we cannot say categorically that this is the actual cause of the fire. We cannot say it is electrical fault because there was no electricity as at the time it happened. We cannot also say it was due to negligence on the side of somebody in his or her shop because none of us sleeps in the market.

“The last time this kind of thing happened was about six years ago and it wasn’t as serious as this. A lot has been lost to this terrible incident because we have among us somebody who has up to N10 million goods in his/her shop. The least among the casualties lost N500,000” he said.

The Secretary of the market, Mr. Ganiyu Ademuwa, said they were called around 2 a.m. by security guards that the market was on fire, adding that the fire had destroyed a lot of goods before the arrival of the state fire service officials.

“We were called by the security guards at about 2 a.m. that the market was on fire and we rushed down immediately. All our efforts to put it out proved abortive as the fire continued to rage fiercely. We called the state fire service but they came a bit late.

“The least that is lost to this fire is N500, 000. We are appealing to the government to please come to the aid of those affected by the fire disaster. Some of us have lost all that we laboured all our lives to this incident,” she said.

—Jamiu Yisa