Fire Destroys Tens of Millions Worth of Property in Delta

Property worth hundreds millions of naira were in the early hours of Tuesday lost to a fire incident in the Amukpe area of Sapele town, Sapele council area of Delta state.

The fire incident, which reportedly started at about 2:00am, gutted about 12 rooms on plot number 112 and another 9 shops on plot number 114, both along the Warri-Sapele Road, Amukpe area of Sapele.

Although no one has officially adduced a cause to the incident, as at the time of filing the report, some of the victims and neighbours blamed it on either electric power surge or arsonist intentions by some the cult gangs prevalent in the area.

Sources also informed that some of the affected structures are owned by the former community chairman of Sapele-Okpe Community, one Mr. Moses Ogodo.

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Residents and neighbours in the area informed that the situation was made worse by the late response of the Delta State Fire Service. They said the self-help treatment was not enough to make any serious impact
on the fire, which enabled it to wreck such a huge havoc.

One of owners of the shops torched by the fire, who identified herself as Mrs. Anita, speaking on the response time of the fire service men, said “they came late, by the time they arrived the scene, the damage
has been done, a situation that has made us resolve to self-help, pouring water on the fire to put it out”.

Another victim of the incident, who lost his boutique to the fire, one Julius, said his goods consumed were not less than N6 million in value, saying “in fact, when I got there, the extent of fire was better seen than described, there was nothing I could do. I was helpless because I didn’t have the capability to put the fire out”.

Debunking insinuations that the fire must have been caused by any sudden power surge, Julius said there was no light at the time the fire started, expressing the strong conviction that it was all works of arsonists.

“This has got nothing to do with Benin Disco, this is the job of arsonists. Look, there was no light, because of the load shedding on the transformer, we did not have light yesterday, so where did fire come from? I strongly believe these cult boys are at it again” he said.

 

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