The popular Aleshinloye Market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was razed by a raging fire on Tuesday night, affecting properties worth millions of naira.
The inferno was raging with thick flames in the late hours of Tuesday.
The General Manager of Oyo State Fire Services, Akinyemi Akinyinka, who confirmed the incident, said firefighters were at the scene to put out the fire.
“Men are currently working at Aleshinloye market. We thank the management of SWEETCO for releasing their truck and men.
“We are grateful to Sumal for releasing their crew to the scene, we are eternally grateful to them and SWEETCO. The fire was very massive. We cannot respond to individual questions now due to logistics,” he said.
Some of the traders expressed sadness and called for assistance while speaking with newsmen in Ibadan on Wednesday.
One of the victims, Rukayat AbdulLateef, said the fire consumed two shops with over N50 million worth of goods.
“I just bought about N5.4 million worth of goods in my two shops on Thursday, and I have some goods left there before restocking because we don’t normally finish selling the previous goods before restocking.
“I borrowed money to buy the goods in those shops, and I am make N1 million on goods from Thursday. I don’t know where to start now,” she lamented.
Another victim, Toyeebat Bello, said the fire affected her 10 shops with goods worth over N70 million.
“I got the information about the fire on Tuesday night but couldn’t come down at that time. On getting to the market, I discovered that all my 10 shops were affected.
“What we have been hearing before is that the government wanted to demolish Aleshinloye market, and we have been appealing to them, not knowing that this kind of thing will happen,” she said.
A member of the market’s task force and one of the victims of the inferno, Sodiq Oloriade, said he lost all his goods to the fire.
“The destruction may not have been as massive had the state fire station in the market worked. I think that an electric surge caused the fire,” he said.
As of the time of filing this report, the cause of the fire is unknown.
