The fire which some doubting eyewitnesses suspected to have started around 3.00a.m., and another group believe it must have started around 4.00a.m., totally consumed all the valuable goods and items in the market. Nothing worthy of any value was left in the morning when the huge inferno that rendered many people financially worthless finally extinguished as the late arrival of the fire fighters could but rarely salvage any valuable item.
The market is situated in the heart of Yola city, not too far from the palace of the traditional ruler, the Lamido of Adamawa. It is a market that always have all sundry of buyers and sellers plying their businesses on daily basis, because the market is not famous for any homogenous product. It is a market for heterogeneous goods. Even as it is well known that the rival market known as Jimeta Modern Market is equipped with better facilities because of its modernity and model, the Yola Market still pride itself as the major market of the Yola inhabitants. They have considered the market as the original market of the indigenes of the city. For this, you will always have the market filled to the brim as everyone feels it is the original market of the inhabitants where goods and services could be acquired due to its proximity to their residences.
Nobody amongst the eyewitnesses could explain what actually caused the sudden destructive inferno. Nobody could tell if the cause of the fire was from any explosive object or from any electrical gadget within the market. Even the accurate time when the inferno commenced was not certain by any of the eyewitnesses. They all gave different timings of the incidence in a guess. Worst of it all was the unavailability of the security agents like the police to have accounted in certainty for what actually manifested that rendered the entire market razed in fire. All those who spoke in the status of eyewitnesses were either traders in the market or nearby neighbours who were forced out of their beds in the heat of the unbearable inferno.
A female eyewitness in her sobbing eyes, told the pressmen that she occupied one shop in the market while her brother occupied another. According to her, those two shops in the market were their sole source of livelihood. Now that the shops had been razed by fire, she does not have any more hope of livelihood. She however appealed to the government to come to her aid likewise other traders in the market whose goods were also destroyed by the inferno.
People wondered why a multi-million worth of a market could be just razed to the ground without any clue to the cause of such inferno. Where were the security personnel when the fire started? The fire fighters were said to have arrived the scene but in what could be termed as too late. This is because the fire had already destroyed the major parts of the market before they arrived. Even with their presence, the sturdiness and mightiness of the fire was relatively uncontrollable. Eyewitnesses revealed off the camera that had they come earlier, maybe a notable size of the market could have been rescued. Even as they battled the remaining side of the market on their arrival, the fire stamina was so immense that their fire fighting proved futile against the ravage. Their presence was almost like no presence at all. If they had had a better or sophisticated fire fighting equipment, maybe, the story could have been different. Maybe, a reasonable part of the market with valuable worth could have been salvaged. But nothing was actually salvaged.
However, the words from the Adamawa State government officials brought some glimpse of hope to the hopeless traders whose goods and shops were destroyed. They promised to help in rebuilding the market and assist the traders to restart their destroyed businesses, but the time lag for such promise to be implemented was not revealed. Assuredly, the security agents promised to carry out investigation in effect to actualize what caused the fire outbreak so as to avert reoccurrence in the future. Moreover, if it was as a result of carelessness by anyone, such person or persons would be made to dance the tune of the law.
Nonetheless, if it is after the investigation that the market would be rebuilt or it would be another period, all as at now is dwelling in insinuations and probabilities. In a sincere status, the market was actually burnt to the ground and all the traders and shop owners were thrown into instant financial handicap, which would definitely take a while to recover. It will be a great benevolence if the government of the state will actually step in to give succour to the people who lost their belongings and to the community where the market was situated. Fortunately for the whole misfortune, no life was lost in the destructive inferno.
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