A fire outbreak that began in the early hours of Tuesday engulfed several shops at Owode Market in Offa, Kwara State.
A video of the incident seen by SaharaReporters captured the moment some of the shop owners were mourning as they watched their properties destroyed by the fire.
“This light is too much. This is not caused by NEPA (electricity). Maybe some people were cooking and the fire started from there because this light is much,” one of the traders said in the video.
A source from the town on Tuesday morning said the fire was eventually quenched by the personnel of Federal Fire Service and Kwara State Fire Service.
The source added that no fewer than five shops were affected by the inferno.
“The authorities are still assessing the situation, but personally, I know at least five shops were affected. The worth of goods and properties destroyed can’t be said now until the assessment finishes.
“There are also several claims as to the cause of the fire until we wait for the fire service to release their statement on it,” the source said.
Meanwhile, barely eight months ago, there was a report about a midnight fire razed a residential building in the town and destroyed property worth N6.5m.
The incident that occurred at about 1:05am at Kowope compound, Olorunkuse area, Offa, affected a two- bedroom flat and four shops.
In December, no fewer than 14 shops were reportedly razed by fire in two incidents that occurred in the Tanke area of Ilorin in Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State between Tuesday evening and the early hours of Wednesday.
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At least, seven shops at Zion Overcomer, Opposite Duro Suleiman house, University Road, Tanke, were reportedly burnt while the second incident also occurred at Tanke Oke-Odo area on University Road at about 1.30 a.m. on Wednesday, where another seven shops were destroyed by fire.
While confirming the incidents, the Kwara State Fire Service said that its men attended to the two fire incidents at different locations in the Tanke area and saved 16 out of the 31 shops engulfed by the raging fire.
The spokesman of Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, who confirmed the incident at that time, had said the quick intervention of the firefighters saved property estimated to be worth N13.3m.
