Two die as fire razes Mile 12 market in Lagos 0
BY OUR REPORTER ON MARCH 14, 2015 NATIONAL
BY CHIZOBA IKEN­WA, ANTHONY OBI AND AYO ALONGE

Barely 24 hours after dare-devil armed robbers wreaked havoc in Lagos, another disaster struck in the city in the early hours of yesterday as fire gutted a major part of the popular mile 12 mar­ket, Ketu in Kosofe area of the state. The fire which was said to have started at 6am burnt two persons be­yond recognition leaving several others with vari­ous degree of burns while goods worth millions of naira were also burnt.

Eye witness account had it that the fire started from a leakage in a fuel tank lo­cated within the market which caught fire and spread to other parts of the market where groundnut oil was be­ing sold.

A passerby, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that the fire had not started when he passed through the market.

“When I passed here, around some minutes to 6am it had not started until after some minutes, I heard an ex­plosion and everywhere be­came rowdy as people began to run for safety,” he said.

A trader, who identified himself as Tunde, said the fire started around 6:20am, adding that it would have been caused by some per­sons involved in illegal oil business in the market.

His words: “I learnt from a reliable source that the “cause of this fire is people involved in oil bunkering”. I don’t know them but I know they are to blame”.

Infuriated by the fact that affected shop owners were now lamenting because there was an order restricting them from talking to journalists, Shina Ajose, whose car was among the burnt vehicles raised his voice and started shouting in Yoruba.

“It is Sukura o! He should be held responsible for all these. He collects illegal money from these oil bun­kerers and allowed them to sell their products here.”

When asked who Sukura was, Ajose did not hesitate to say, “He is one Hausa man in charge of the mar­ket. He is responsible for all these. On several occa­sions, we have gone to meet him to tell these people to stop bringing fuel here but he won’t listen. At a point he threatened us with Po­lice and Soldiers if we ever come to disturb him again on the matter. We have been shouting about it because of a day like this. Look at what he has got us into now.”

Saturday Sun observed that more than 11 shops, 6 vehicles, and over 20 mo­torcycles and wheelbarrows were burnt by the fire.