Sections of the market at Ori-Igi, Daleko and Iso Ẹlẹwà, were affected by the fire which was reported to have started in the wee hours of Monday.
The cause of the fire was unclear at the time of this reporting but goods and property worth millions of naira were lost.
The inferno reportedly began around 4:30 am on Monday. According to them, the first sign they saw was heavy smoke, which later snowballed into a thick flame. The fire, they said, started from the Ori-Ile end of the market.
But the cause of the fire incident was described as a mystery by some traders who spoke to journalists.
Many traders rushed to the market when they heard about the incident with a view to preventing criminals from taking advantage of the incident to loot their shops. Victims of the incident lamented their losses and called for support from the state government and other well-meaning Nigerians.
But some of the traders commended the firefighters for their timely response, adding they prevented the inferno from spreading to other parts of the market.
A trader in the market, who identified himself as Abdullahi Akande, said: “I heard about the fire incident around 5 am. I rushed down to this place immediately. But how the gore started I did not know. But my shop was on fire when I got here. I could not move closer. But everything had been completely razed in the shop before help came from firefighters.
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“Honestly, I don’t know where to start again. Everything gone. Again, I kept a large sum of money in the shop because I did not want to spend it during the Ileya festival. I will not disclose the amount because people will blame me. If I had known, I would have taken the money home. Let me appeal to the government and individuals to help us to start life again.”
