Wares reportedly worth over N1 billion have been destroyed in a fire outbreak at the Ebonyi State International Market on Wednesday, October 18.
The fire had gutted one of the biggest warehouses in the market.
According to reports, the fire had begun around 2:00 am, but this claim is yet to be ascertained.
As at the time of filing this report, the fire was still to be put out.
Meanwhile, Mr Chidi Okechukwu, the brother of the owner of the affected warehouse while speaking to newsmen had blamed the incident on bad security management in the market.
Okechukwu had explained that the owner of the warehouse prior to the fire had been the biggest distributor of Indomie noodles, tomato and other beverages.
Okechukwu had also implied that the fire could be an act of deliberate vandalism, as he described it as mysterious.
In Okechukwu’s word:
“You can’t attribute the fire to a power surge because there is no electricity in the International Market. It is therefore, very strange and surprising to hear that the warehouse is on fire. From which source?”
However, the Chairman of the International Market, Lot One, Mr Peter Oba, had remarked that the incident was caused by a solar energy battery malfunction that was installed to power the CCTV camera inside the warehouse.
Oba had thereafter called on the state government to come to the aid of the owner of the warehouse.
