From Muhammad Isma’il, Sokoto
Fire has gutted many parts of the Shehu Shagari Central market in Sokoto, destroying both goods and structures, Daily Telescope can report.
The fire, according some traders who spoke to the Daily Telescope, started in the early hours of today while many traders were at their respective homes.
Up till the time of filing in this report, the fire was still razing shops as fire-fighting officials and traders were battling to quench it.
The market which is located around Gandu area, Daily Telescope observed, lacks access roads, hence made it difficult for fire fighters to gain access into the premises of the market with a view to quenching the fire.
However, a trader, Muhammad Auwal told our reporter that the fire started from the plastic section of the market around 5:30am and escalated to other sections of the market.
An eye witness, Yakubu Isa, said “despite combine efforts by the officials of the State Fire Service Department and traders to put off the fire, it is still razing many shops, destroying properties worth billions of naira.
“While other traders whose shops are not affected by the fire are busy evacuating their goods from the shops, others have joined the fire service officials in battling the fire. Many goods have been lost to the inferno. Only God knows how much in terms of money have been lost by the traders.”
Daily Telescope observed that security personnel were drafted to the market in order to prevent hoodlums from looting goods from the market.
“You know some bad elements among us will use this opportunity to loot goods from the market. Alhamdulilah, security personnel were deployed to the area to safeguard the traders’ goods,” another eyewitness, Isa Aminu said.
Aminu added that “the deputy of the state has visited the scene of the incident and ordered the fire-fighting officials to put more efforts to quench the fire. All the fire-fighting machines we have in Sokoto were drafted here but the fire is still razing the market.”
