Fire razes yam shops

Sympathisers at the scene of the Turaya, Béèrè fire incident, which razed four shops and affected two others.

A yam seller, in the popular Beere market, within Ibadan metropolis in Oyo State, Alhaji Agunbiade Olalere, popularly known as Baba ‘laje Mapo, has lost tubers of yam worth millions of naira in an inferno that razed the complex where he has a shop. Speaking with FarmingFarmersFarms, he recounted how that he had received calls from residents in the midnight around 1am that there was a fire outbreak where his shop was located. He said after interventions of residents and sympathisers, men of the State Fire Service came to his rescue around 3am. It was gathered that the fire incident mostly affected the four shops on the same block, just near the road opposite of popular Turaya bus-stop.

The cause of the fire may not be unconnected with a live wire that reportedly fell on the block of shops when power was supplied to the area at midnight. Sympathisers told FarmingFarmersFarms that the Oyo State Command of the Federal Fire Service was alerted when the event happened after futile efforts of those staying in the area to quench the fire. Similarly, a businessman, who together with his wife, who deal in sales of books, textbooks, stationery items and school materials, Mr. Abdul-Azeez Arisekola lamented how that two of his shops, containing up to ten million naira (N10,000,000) worth of goods were lost to the unfortunate incident. “I received the call around fifteen minutes to 2am that there was a fire incident. Just yesterday alone, I still had up to N1.2 million naira worth of A4 papers delivered to my shop for sale, but now, everything is burnt.

Mr. Abdul-Azeez Arisekola’s two shops.

This is my life because I don’t even know where to start from. I and my wife don’t have any other means, because this is the only business we do”, Arisekola cried out. According to him, the incident had caused a lot of shock to him and left him confused on where to begin from, as he has family members and staff that work with him. He, therefore, called on the state government and other well-meaning Nigerians to urgently come to their aid. Meanwhile, Mr. Musbaudeen Ibrahim, husband to Mrs. Marufa Ibrahim, who is also one of the business people affected, but managed to speak with our reporter, said the inferno had affected his wife so much that he had to drive her to her parents’ place as she could not take the news of the extent of the damage.

He said; “I was called around 3.30am, but I couldn’t come out of my area, we stay around Kulu, Elebu, Ibadan, so it was too dangerous to start coming. I can’t even quantify how many millions was lost”, but my wife had three deep freezers, solar panels, power banks, accessories, and soft drinks, which she was selling. “There’s nothing I can even do right now, because she has been doing this business for over 15 years. I am also using this opportunity to call on governments at all levels to come to our aid”, he added. One of the sympathisers, who is a yam trader, Mr. Wasiu Ajani, at the scene of the incident, lamented how that fire outbreak suddenly happened around 1am, and razed down locked-up shops with goods worth millions of naira within a few minutes.