N100 Million Worth of Property Destroyed as Fire Guts Wood Market in Onitsha again, Foul Play Suspected

Carpentry and Wood Design Market, Bridge-Head Markets, Onitsha, was on Thursday gutted by fire with property worth hundreds of millions destroyed. Meanwhile, Chairman of the market, Mr Obidigbo Okorie, has urged the Anambra government to investigate the fire that gutted a major part of the market on Thursday. The fire started at about 4.30 a.m. and lasted till 11 a.m.
Okorie said after the fire was put out by firefighters and members of the public that the artisans lost shops, wood and machinery worth more than N100 million.
The chairman said that 99 per cent of the shops were lost to the fire. In his words, "I call on those affected to keep calm (as) we would follow the investigation of the incident to its logical conclusion… I would invite the state and local governments to come close and understand what is going on here and then know how we can be helped,'' Okorie said.
Meanwhile, reacting to the incident, Mr Ugochukwu Ezeani, Chairman, Onitsha South Council Transition Committee, who visited the scene, described the incident as "unfortunate". Another affected individual, one Mr Arinze Nweke, a wood designer, said he lost two shops and two wood designing machines worth some N200,000. NAN recalls that a similar incident happened in the market in January 2010 during which some 60 shops were affected
Source: Vanguard