Some shanties around Lagos’ popular market, Alaba International Market, Ojo, were up in flames on Friday.
The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Services, which confirmed the incident, said efforts were underway to put out the inferno.
“Report reaching Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service indicates shanties at the popular Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos are on Fire.
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“However, Fire Crew from Ojo, Sari-Iganmu and Ajegunle are being turned back by angry mobs from performing their statutory duty but presently on standby,” the agency’s director, Margaret Adeseye, said in an earlier situation report.
“The agency is consequently collaborating with Security agents to address it,” she added.
But the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the structures were set ablaze for harbouring criminals.
“Acting on credible information, police officers from Ojo Division raided shanties around the market, arrested suspected criminals and recovered some weapons. The shanties were thereafter set on fire,” he wrote on Twitter.
