From Raji Bello, Sokoto
A popular old market in Sokoto State was on Monday razed down by inferno affecting no fewer than sixteen shops within the complex.
The incident, according to an eyewitness account happened at around 11pm on Monday and lasted for 3 hours before officials of the State Fire Service put off the fire.
The Chairman of the Market, Alhaji Almustapha, while speaking with journalists in Sokoto, said goods worth hundred million naira was affected in the market.
He commended the men of the state fire service for their quick response to place, saying the situation would have been worse than what happened.
Almustapha who was also one of the owners of the affected shop disclosed that sixteen shops where goods like rice, groundnut oil, vegetable oil and other foodstuffs were razed in the incident.
He called on the state government to come to the aid of the victims, saying some of them has no other way to feed their families apart from the shops.
Also speaking, Mr Mustapha Abubakar, the Head of Operation, Sokoto Fire Service confirmed the incident added that said a proper investigation will be launch to ascertain the cause of the fire outbreak.
The operation officer cautioned members of the public against late reporting of fire incidents, while advising against blocking the movement of firefighting equipment during such incident.
He also warned people against engaging the inferno before informing the agency, saying that the situation usually lead to the escalation of the fire before the arrival of the fire fighters.
Meanwhile, the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has sent his condolence message to the affected traders.
Speaking through his Deputy, Hon Manir Muhammad Dan’iya in a statement called on the security agencies to secure all the affected areas to avoid hoodlums taking advantage of the incident.
He called on the traders to take the unfortunate incident as an act from God and against the occurrence of such bad incident in the state.
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