Some traders at the mammy market behind the Arena Shopping Complex, Oshodi, Lagos wailed and wept on Monday following a fire outbreak, which razed no fewer than 100 shops.
Although the incident happened on Sunday around 1am, PUNCH METRO gathered that most of the traders were not aware of the disaster until on Monday when they reported for businesses.
When traders and buyers arrived at the shopping complex on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway on Monday, they met stern-looking soldiers, who prevented them from entering the complex.
The puzzled traders subsequently went on protest after no explanation was offered by either the Ikeja Military Cantonment authorities on whose premises the complex was located or the executives of the complex.
Although the cause of the fire was not known, some of the affected people, who preferred not to be named, said they suspected that it was caused by an electrical surge.
It was also gathered that some people speculated that the fire was caused by explosives that detonated around the market.
The traders said that they lost goods worth millions of naira and appealed to the military authorities and Lagos State Government to come to their aid.
It was gathered that since the January 27, 2002 bomb blasts at the cantonment, the military authorities had not allowed people to sleep either at the mammy market or any other unauthorised place within the cantonment.
On learning about the incident and the possibility that explosives might have caused the fire outbreak, traders at the shopping complex insisted that they should be allowed into the complex to see the state of their shops.
When they went in, they discovered that the fire outbreak at the mammy market did not affect the Arena.
Spokesman of the cantonment, Olaolu Daudu, who confirmed the fire incident to PUNCH METRO, said that although no life was lost in the inferno, many shops were affected.
“Over 100 shops were burnt and what we are doing now is to assess the damage and the cause of the inferno. An investigation panel has been set up to examine the cause of the incident and also recommend measures that can be adopted to prevent a recurrence,” he said.
Asked why the traders were prevented from entering the premises, he explained that the step was taken for security reason.
“We were trying to prevent hoodlums to come through the complex and used the confusion in the mammy market to loot and cause trouble. As soon as the secretary of the complex arrived, he identified the traders and we allowed them in and as soon as we put security measures in place, we allowed the buyers in,” Daudu said.
He said that the incident was a pure fire outbreak and had nothing to do with explosives as was speculated.
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