Fire destroys Gamboru market, Maiduguri

FIRE has gutted asection of theGamboru Market, Maiduguri, destroying property worth millions of naira.Some traders at the market said that the fire started around 4:00 a.m.``The fire started between 3:00 a.m and 4:00 a.m and destroyed all the items at the section of the market,''Mallam Mohammed Ibrahim, a trader, said.Ibrahim pointed out that some military officers had on the previous night directed all the traders to leave.``They came on Friday around 4:00 p.m. and asked everybody to leave, so, all of us closed our shops and left the market.``But we were suprised to see smoke coming out of the market in the morning.''Mallam Saidu Idrissa, a furniture maker, corroborated Ibrahim's claim, saying that they were unable to salvage any of their belongings when they arrived in the morning.``We rushed to the market in the morning, but we could not move in because a detachment of security officers had cordoned off the place.``We were forced to remain at the entrance until later in the afternoon, by this time, our properties have been razed down.``I am telling you that most of us do not know how we are going to feed today because we have lost everything we had to the fire.''He appealed to the state government to investigate the cause of the fire and also assist the victims.Mr Simeon Midenda, the Borno Commissioner of Police, confirmed the incident, saying that it was unfortunate.``We have already put in place a machinery to investigate the incident because it happened late in the night when the market was supposed to be empty.''Col. Hassan Ifijeh (retd), the spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order (ODO), could not be reached for comments as his GSM phone was switched off.
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