One hundred and fifty six shops at the timber and furniture section of Nkwo Ngwa market in Aba South Local Government Area of Abia, have been razed by fire.
Chairman of the market traders’ association, Okechukwu Lawrence, told newsmen at the market on Sunday that he learnt about the incident through phone call around 7:00 pm on Saturday.
According to him, when he rushed to the scene, he and the market’s taskforce members broke its gates to let in sympathisers who helped to put out the fire, using water from a borehole.
His words: “We tried our best before the Fire Service came in. We used water from our borehole to quench the fire. But the hoodlums around later broke the borehole in their bid to steal our pump while the fire was raging.
“That was how I saw it yesterday. The fire was too much and it gulped millions of Naira worth of goods and property.
“We have some building material sellers in all these front shops. The second row of shops is occupied by furniture sellers and dealers in other things. We recorded a very big loss here but there was no loss of life or injury.” came to put off the fire.
Lawrence debunked claims that his members attacked the fire service personnel who He disclosed that it was a group of hoodlums called Aroo Boys who attacked the fire service men and later entered the market, broke into shops, carried rice, stock fish, clothes and other property and left.
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He further said the fire could have been stopped with the help of the fire fighters before it destroyed up to 100 shops but they were hindered by the suspended Ozuomba road project of the State Government.
The Chairman appealed to the government to come to the aid of the traders by fixing the road and attending to other needs in the market.
The Abia Police Commissioner, Chris Ezeike who visited the scene Sunday morning, noted that the burnt section of the market was full of inflammable materials.
He sympathised with the victims even as called for calm and peace.
Ezike disclosed adding that the fire incident, which was said to have caused by a generating set, would be investigated immediately.
Capt. Awa Udonsi (rtd.), Senior Special Adviser to Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu on Security, said he had been notified about the incident and would involve the concerned ministries in the matter.
Udonsi said he would not take decisions for the governor but gave the assurance that government would “do the right thing” in the situation.
