• Market leader condemns attack on Fire Service
Over 200 shops and goods worth millions of naira were destroyed, on Thursday night, by fire at Ojoto Market, located at Azikiwe/Ojoto Roundabout, Mile 2 Diobu, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The cause of the inferno could not be ascertained, as the market had already closed for the day before the fire began.
The Chairman of the market, Sir Arinze Akupue, told The Guardian that he was in his house around 10.00p.m., when security personnel attached to the market notified him that there was flame coming out of the market.
Akupue said he called some people around the market to assist to quench the fire, while he drove to state fire service office.
He said he was advised at state fire service that he should to go to Federal Secretariat to ask the Federal Fire Service for assistance.
“The cause of the fire has nothing to do with somebody cooking within the market. The market was shut down for the day and everybody had gone home,” he said.
He disclosed that the Commandant of the Federal Fire Service assigned some officers who followed him to the scene.
He said on getting to the scene, the market had been severely burnt, and hoodlums began to attack the fire fighters to create a chaotic atmosphere for them to loot.
Akupue stated that it took the intervention of the Azikiwe Divisional Police Headquarters to rescue the fire fighters, while the fire completely razed the market.
He said over 200 shops were completely destroyed.
He revealed that three of his shops were burnt and he could not salvage any of his goods. He dismissed the insinuation that the fire was caused by people who were cooking in the market.
He called on the state government to come to their aid and provide succour for the victims.
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