Properties worth millions of Naira were on Thursday destroyed when a mysterious fire razed the popular Oja Tuntun market near Sabo in Ile-Ife, Osun state.
Daily Trust gathered that the cause of the inferno was yet to be ascertained as at the time of filing this report, just as it learnt that goods and valuables were destroyed.
A resident of Ile-Ife, Mr MacDonald Oladipo, who spoke with our correspondent, said the men of Osun State Fire Service came to the scene on time to quench the fire.
He said the operatives of the Fire Service of the Obafemi Awolowo University also came to the market on time to put out the fire.
He noted that the firemen could not gain access to the market immediately as several gates within the market had been locked as the market was deserted because of the lockdown imposed by the state government as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state.
Oladipo said before the firemen gained access and eventually extinguished the fire, a lot of property had been destroyed.
Daily Trust reports that a similar fire incident razed the same market last year with large properties and goods also destroyed.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer for Osun state Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed the incident.
Opalola said the fire had been put out and that adequate policemen were deployed to the area to prevent looting by hoodlums.
Our reporter, however, couldn’t get official comments from the commander of the Osun State Fire Service, Dr Michael Ogundipe, as his mobile lines were not reachable as at the time of filing this report.
