THE New Year Eve'sdisaster at OgunpaMarket in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, worsened on Tuesday.The fire incident that occurred at the South-West section of the market, on Saturday, which reportedly started around 10.00p.m. and destroyed goods and property, according to traders, reignited and burnt more shops before dawn on Tuesday.It was gathered that nobody suspected that the heavy flames which firefighters battled to put out on on the New Year Day and Monday were still smouldering under the rubble and this caused further loss of shops and goods worth billions of naira by Tuesday morning.In the meantime, two members of the National Assembly and chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Femi Lanlehin and Honourable Saheed Akinade-Fijabi, have pledged their support for the victims.Addressing the victims and other members of the market during a visit to the scene of the incident, on Tuesday, Lanlehin, representing Oyo South senatial district at the Senate and Akinade-Fijabi, representing Ibadan North-West/South-West federal constituency at the House of Representatives, expressed gratitude to God that no life was lost in the incident and prayed God to put an end to such occurrences in the land.In separate addresses, the duo promised to use their offices to attract help to the victims from the National Assembly and the government, while also pledging assistance for them in their private capacities as people's elected representatives.The leader of the affected section of the market, Elder Kolawole Akinwale, who led the lawmakers to inspect the damage, thanked them for identifying with the market community on the disaster and urged them to make good their promises.When the Nigerian Tribune visited the market, on Tuesday, traders wearing gloomy faces were seen trying to salvage what was left of the ruins, while some were making efforts to bring down weak structures occasioned by the impact of the fire to avoid sudden collapse on people.The market leader said the actual cause of the fire was unknown.'What we detected was that on Saturday, a fire was made near a kiosk by unknown persons. After the kiosk in question caught the fire, some boys tried to push the structure into the Ogunpa River to prevent the fire from spreading to other shops, but they had to stop when they realised that the kiosk contained a lot of goods.''And as briefly stopped to discuss a course of action, the fire had spread to about three other shops. What aggravated the fire was that most of the shops contained chemical substances. That happened between Saturday night and Sunday and fire fighters tried and put it out after some damage. However, we woke up today to find that the fire had razed more shops and caused further damage.'This is about the fifth time we have recorded incidents like this in the last four years. In view of this, we appeal to the government to assist us by establishing a fire station that would respond promptly in situations like this. Billions of naira have been lost,' Elder Akinwale said.
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