6 dead, many injured as fire engulf parts of Mile 12 market

Six people lost their lives and several others sustained injuries during a fire outbreak at the vegetable and palm oil section of the Mile 12 market on Friday.

Several properties were also destroyed in the inferno, which cause is yet to be ascertained.

While some of the traders claimed that epileptic power supply was responsible for the unfortunate incident, others blamed it on those selling fuel illegally at the affected section of the market.

“People are saying it is Nepa, six people have lost their lives today and many are in the hospital receiving treatment,” said one of the traders who identified himself as Abdulsalam.

“It is very painful, a very big loss.”

Sulaiman Arowolo, a tyre dealer in the market, believes that greed on the part of executive members of the union in Mile 12, contributed to the disaster.

“Around 6am this morning, my brother called to inform me of the incident but before I could get here to see things for myself, the situation had gone beyond expectation. “All the same I thank God that I’m not injured,” he said.

“Our leaders are the cause of the fire because they know those selling fuel inside the market but they refused to stop them because of the money that they collect from them.”

Balarabe Muhammad buttressed the claim of Arowolo, saying he had it on good authority that those selling fuel in the market were responsible for the incident.

“One of the black marketers carried petrol inside a nylon bag that was leaking,” Muhammad said.

“As he tried passing through a group of people who were smoking, there was a loud bang and the rest as they say is history. Anyone who blames this incident on electricity is a pure liar.”

A middle-aged man who identified himself as Olaoluwa claimed to have lost his means of livelihood and appealed to the government to come to his aid.

He said his wife and three children depended on the vehicle he was using for commercial purpose, which got burnt during the inferno.

Dupe Ojo, one of the leaders of the market, narrated her own account of the event.

“What happened here, we cannot actually say but one thing that is very clear is that we have not had supply of electricity for a while now,” she said.

“Since this is a market, we have generators and definitely when we have generator we must have fuel, so the whole thing still appear like a miracle.

“We just saw was a ball of fire. You know Mile 12 is an international market and we have drivers who come with trailers of yam to sell and they have to go back home. The same thing goes to our edible oil dealers; billions of goods were wasted. We want federal government to provide succour to those affected.”