3 make shift structures gutted by fire at Anambra market

3 make shift structures gutted by fire at Anambra market 

By Chinwe Nwacha, Onitsha 

No fewer than three make shift structures were said to have been gutted by fire at Mgbuka Obosi Old Motor Car Spareparts market, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra state, in the wee hours of Saturday, allegedly caused by use of weak/old wires to electrify one of the burnt make shift structures.

Making this disclosure to newsmen, the Chairman of the market, Chief Samuel Ifurunwa, said that, "I was called around 3.am that Mgbuka Obosi was on fire, that one man did  electrical connection in his shop on Friday evening. Then when the light came around 3.am, the connection sparked fire, which prompted the security operatives to rush to the scene and found out that it was from one of the make shift structures that was electrified on Friday.

"According to them the power surge assisted the weak wires to spark fire and the wires fell on top of the zinc and escalated to two others despite efforts of the security operatives to put off the raging inferno and on the process the most affected was the structure of a woman selling provision, 

"The security operatives said there was fuel inside Mr. Sunday Ezekwe's shop that was what helped the fire to escalate and because it has gone out of control the security operatives called fire servicemen of Asaba and Main market but to no avail and they had to call Okpoko fire service personnel and they came to our rescue and quenched the fire, but not without touching three make shift structures.

"The man that did the illegal connection has been arrested because we have only one person handling electricity project in our market, Mr. Sunday that is arrested, called the electrician to do the connection to him and the electrician told him to buy new wire that the one he has is outdated and he refused and went outside and got another electrician to connect it with the same damaged wire which  caused the fire incident.

"We have announced and warned   never will any one bring in any electrician inside our market except the one recognized by the market authority because if found we will hand the person over to police.

"The woman affected said she  predicted the inferno and warned the man not to connect the thing that if it caused a problem that he will be held responsible for the damages," he disclosed further.

In his defence when contacted, Mr. Sunday Ezekwe said, "i was called around 3.am that Mgbuka Obosi is on fire, I don't know if it was the connection I did caused it because I was not there.

"I was using electricity before someone disconnected me, when I approached him to know his reason, he said he did not do it intentionally that I should procure #3,000 wire and reconnect it.

"I called Izuogu, the man in charge of electricity in our market, he directed me to the man that did the connection to me. I did not store fuel in my shop rather there is fuel in my generator, due to the nature of my business, I am using generator also," he stated.

Lamenting the inferno that resulted in wares being destroyed, the ASMATA PG, Chief Humphrey Anuna, who rushed to the scene to see the extent of destruction, warned on illegal connection adding that most of the fire incidents were caused by illegal connection.

He also advised that structures should not be put under high tension cables citing for Nnobi market fire incident as a case study.

He however expressed concern as to the loss and urged the victims to take heart.