From Ahmed Muhammed Danasabe, Lokoja
Dozens of shops and property worth millions of naira were destroyed on Thursday morning as fire razed the Lokoja GSM market.
According to eye witness, the fire started at about 3:30 am and lasted for several hours before it was extinguished by some youths and members of the community.
The market, popularly called Kpata GSM market, is located at the Murtala Muhammed Way, opposite JAIZ Bank of the metropolis, providing business spaces to thousands of traders and artisans in the area.
Abdulrahman Tahir, a witness, told The Triumph correspondent who was live at the scene that the fire started in one of the shops and engulfed other shops in the market.
Tahir, who is a cell phone vendor, revealed that a number of traders lost their goods in the inferno.
“It was early this morning that I received a call about what was happening, and we quickly rushed to the scene.
“Then, there were about ten shops that were on fire. The firefighters arrived here lately after a series of distress calls. Their water pump was faulty, so they could not put off the fire,” he explained.
Tahir said that security personnel were deployed by the Lokoja local government at the scene to assist and prevent the pilfering of traders’ goods by hoodlums.
