It was learnt that the fire started around 11:00 pm.
the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, but it is suspected that an electric power surge might have triggered the fire after electricity was restored to the area.
A trader, who claimed to have lost goods estimated at N5m, said, “The fire started around 11:00 pm.”
The woman said residents in the housing estate near the market alerted the state’s fire service when the incident happened.
A woman, identified as Iya Fatimoh, a widow, was being condoled by friends on her losses.
lamenting “I sell disposable materials and this is the only shop I have. This is where I feed my children. I learnt about the fire around 1:00 am. I could not come down because I live very far away. Unfortunately for me, I kept N150, 000 in that shop last night.”
Another trader who identified herself as Mary Ulo said she lost about N2m to the inferno.
The Managing Director, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the fire was put out around 3:00 am.
He said, “Immediately the fire started, we activated our emergency response plan. Because of the emergency response, we thank God that we did not have any morbidity or mortality associated with this inferno. The fire was put out around 3:00 am.
“We are still doing the enumeration to count the people who lost their things and the number of shops affected. Investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire, but we were told it was caused by a power surge.”
Many of the traders declined to speak to journalists on the incident.
But a woman was heard saying, “Please help us beg them not to close our shops. They only opened it recently and we cannot afford the market to be shut again.”
PUNCH Metro had reported on February 12, 2014 that the state’s market leader, Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, led a team of policemen to seal off the market.
The 10-day closure was said to be due to deviation from the market standards.
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