A fire started early on Tuesday and destroyed many shops at Owode Market in Offa, Kwara State.
A video of the incident, viewed by SaharaReporters, showed some shop owners mourning as they saw their property destroyed by the fire.
One of the traders in the video stated, “This fire is too much. This is not caused by electricity. Maybe some people were cooking and the fire started from there because this fire is much.”
On Tuesday morning, a source from the town revealed that the fire was eventually put out by personnel of the Federal Fire Service and Kwara State Fire Service.
The source also mentioned that at least 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 property destroyed can’t be said now until the assessment ends.
“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 reported.
Meanwhile, about eight months ago, there was a report about a midnight fire that destroyed a residential building in the town and property worth N6.5m.
At around 1:05am at Kowope compound, Olorunkuse area, Offa, a two-bedroom flat and four shops were affected by the fire.
In December, no fewer than 14 shops were reportedly destroyed by fire in two incidents that occurred in the Tanke area of Ilorin in Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State.
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.where another seven shops were destroyed by fire.
