A fire outbreak has burnt down wares worth millions of Naira in Nwofe Agbaja Market in Izzi local government area of Ebonyi State.
The fire disaster which occurred during the weekend razed down 12 shops including the Constituency office of the Ebonyi State governor, Chief Francis Nwifuru, when he was a member representing Izzi West Constituency in Ebonyi State House of Assembly.
Interacting with pressmen, the Chairman of the Nwofe Agbaja Market described the fire outbreak as a mysterious one, noting that there was no electricity in the area, even when the incident took place.
He said: "This fire outbreak has been a thing of surprise to me, because it was found out at exactly 6.30 am, after our local security closed work by 6.00 am. Before people could come out in mass, to quench the fire, the whole building and all the wares in the house had been razed down. No pin was saved.
"I have called my co-executives of the market and equally the Chairman of Izzi local government area, Hon Stephen Nwankpa.
"But, when the Council Chairman came, he told me to compile the names of the affected people and for now, I have over 30 names of the victims with me. Some of them packed their wares in the stores and this situation demands urgent assistance from government and other spirited organisations to help them to cushion the effects."
Also, the Youth President of Okpoduma village, which houses Nwofe Agbaja market, Mr. Paulinus Iziogo described the fire disaster as unfortunate and noted that "no single property was taken out from the building."
One of the victims, Hon Emmanuel Chika Ovuoba, a dealer of local gins, said he got to know about the incident in the early hours of the Friday but before he reached his shop, all his wares had been burnt down by fire.
"It was about 6.30 am, I was called on the phone that my shop was on fire. I came and saw my shop including my wares were burnt down. It had not been two days since I bought new goods, because I'm a dealer of local gins, and at least, I have 10 big drums filled with local gins. Each one costs 160,000 Naira. There was a big freezer, I bought 200,000 Naira, a spraying machine at the rate of 180,000 Naira, a gas cylinder at the rate of 12,000 Naira and other items. All these items were burnt down by fire," he narrated.
Another victim and the owner of the affected building by the fire incident, Mr Joseph Atum said the house has 12 packing stores including an apartment used by Governor Francis Nwifuru as a constituency office when he served as a member representing Izzi West Constituency in Ebonyi State House of Assembly.
Further, Mr Stephen Nwankwo lamented that the fire outbreak consumed his wares worth over 3.5 million Naira.
Nwankwo said: "I have a studio and equally sell bags wholesale in this building, and this fire incident has consumed all of them. At least, my wares burnt down by fire is not less than 3.5 million Naira. I was in the church when this unfortunate incident took place.
Another victim, Boniface Iganga, a dealer of building materials said he lost over 2 million Naira in the incident. He added that bags of rice and other wares packed in his store were also burnt into ashes.
Recall that the fire outbreak was quenched by fire extinguishers from filing stations and drivers in the area, through the intervention of the passersby and other people who came out massively.
