Fire Guts Over 100 Shops , National Museum In Ondo
A fire outbreak on Thursday gutted over 100 lock-up shops and the National Museum located in Akure South Local Government area of Ondo State.
It was gathered that the fire outbreak which started around 12.45am destroyed properties worth Millions of Naira both at the Local Government, the lock-up shops in the premises of the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi.
Some of the properties destroyed in the three affected areas included air-condition, photocopy machines, difference sizes of generators, spiral binding machines, motorcycles, computers, stationeries, tables and chairs.
Although the source of the inferno could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report , some people insinuated fraud either at the rate section of the Local Government or the National Museum and the people who wanted to cover up the crime set the offices ablaze.
But the Chairman of Akure South Local Government, Mrs Margret Atere dismissed the insinuation of fraud saying her staff were not involved in any form of fraud.
According to Atere, the fire incident may have been caused electricity surge that affected the generator section of the lock-up shops.
Speaking on the fire incident, the President, Association of Office Documents and Computers, Mrs Elizabeth Orogun described the development as unfortunate and called on the state government to come to their aids.
She said , “Over 100 shops were destroyed. Computers, generators, photocopying machine, camera, and clothes among other items were destroyed following the inferno.
” None of us could salvage anything from the shops as all their working tools were totally destroyed. “II heard there was electricity around 12:30 am. Maybe there was power surge and it led to the fire, I cannot say.
“When people raised alarm and ran to the fire service, the people on duty said they did not have fuel in their vehicle and water to put out the fire.
“Government should please come to our aid because some of us have children in the University and we have no other means of getting money, all that we have had been gutted by fire”.
While describing the incident as a national calamity ,the Curator of the National Museum, Ogunmola Dada Nathaniel , said inferno affected parts of the museum and destroyed properties worth millions of Naira.
Ogunmola said, he received a distress call around 1 AM from the security and he rushed to the scene only to find parts of the museum gutted by fire.
According to him, the effect of the fire incident could have been mitigated if the State Fire Service came to the place.
He further disclosed that, it took the effort of the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Aladetoyinbo before the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) Fire Service came and put out the fire.
Also commenting, the Youth leader of Akure community, Tuyi Adekambi said, “The inferno started around 1 am as a result of a power surge. If we have functioning fire service in the state, the inferno would not have got to this extent.
“For almost three hours, the fire service could not get to the scene of the fire incident and it was the Fire Brigade of FAAN that came to rescue the situation, else the inferno would get to the Deji’s palace. Many people have been in the hospital, they collapsed when they got here.
“Government should be in a position to purchase vehicles for the fire service for each senatorial districts in the state in order to use it for the comfort of the people.”
