It was wailing all the way as goods worth millions of naira were destroyed Tuesday night by fire that gutted a shopping mall in Lagos Street in Benin City, Edo State.
The Shopping Mall houses over forty shops where cosmetics
and kitchen utensils are sold.
An eye witness, Joseph Eboigbe, told journalists that the fire broke out fire at about 7.30pm in the evening owing to electricity surge from Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).
Eboigbe, who deals in cosmetics said there was no power supply all through the day until at about 7.00pm when power supply was restored with a very high power surge and by then most of the shop owners had gone home.
“What happened was that there was no light all through Tuesday, until at about 7.00 pm when light came, but then many people had gone home. At about 7.30 pm we started seeing smoke from one of the shops and suddenly there was this burst of flame and that was how everywhere caught fire.
“We have to call the fire service who came, but before then most of the shops were already consumed.They saved the day because they came with two vehicles and if it were not for their efforts the fire would have extended to other shops and houses there”.
A victim of the fire incident, Pual Umoh,70, who sells kitchen utensils and had been trading in one of the affected shops since 1981, said he lost over N10 million to the fire incident.
“I was around till 6.30pm before going home. I didn’t see any sign of fire, but when I got home, took my birth and was about eating, I received a phone call that N0 16 Lagos Street, where I have a shop is on fire. Before I could get to the place, the whole place was already gutted by fire. I was able to bring out somethings, but those things were also damaged by the fire brigade people who stepped on them and damaged them.
“The Fire People used water and even the water fetched from the gutter was poured on my goods. All the glasses were broken”, he said.
Umoh pleaded with government to come to the victims aid as it is becoming very difficult to live as a result of high cost of living.
“I want the government to assist us, we know that during the time of Adams Oshiomhole, those whose shops were gutted by fire at Agbado Market were given some assistance by government, but for Obaseki, we have seen more than 5 markets gutted by fire in the last two years but they did not give them anything. I have lost over N10million to this fire incident”. he lamented.
