JUST IN: Fire razes 100 shops in Oyo market

At least 100 shops were razed by early morning fire at a plank market in Sango, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday.

Equipment worth millions of naira were also destroyed by the inferno.

The incident occurred about two years after a major inferno razed over 300 shops in the same section of the market.

According to eyewitnesses, the inferno, which started at about 2:00 a.m., could have burnt the whole market and some nearby residential houses surrounding the market, but for the swift intervention of the men of the Oyo State Fire Service.

Early callers to the market, popularly called Igbajo plank market at Alaro area of Sango, included the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abiodun Odude; caretaker chairman of Irepo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Mr. Bolaji Abayomi; and the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Sango police divisional headquarters.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Adekunle Ajisebutu, said Odude visited the scene of the incident to assess the level of damage in the market, adding that the police commissioner also assured traders of security and adequate investigation of the incident.

The cause of the inferno was yet unknown at the time of filling the report.