24 hours after rainstorm killed scores in Bauchi, fire razed 700 shops in Azare

WHILE residents of Bauchi and environs were still counting their losses following the windstorm that ravaged the area living behind deaths and loss of properties worth several millions of Naira, barely 24 hours later, another disaster struck when fire gutted the main market in Azare burning down over 700 stalls causing the owners to lose valuables worth billions of Naira.

Reports have it that the fire broke out Sunday following power surge from one of the electricity sources of the market and spread to all the shops that were stocked with assorted valuables.

Efforts by firemen to put the fire off met with series of hitches as the fire was said to keep spreading because of some inflammable materials in some of the shops.

By the time the fire was finally put off, a total of 700 shops have been completely burnt down though no life was lost.

Meanwhile, Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar has commiserated with the people Azare over the fire incidence that erupted Sunday night, razing over 700 shops in the market and destroying yet to be quantified goods.

According to a statement signed by the Press Secretary to the Governor, Abubakar Al-Sadique, the Governor who arrived Azare in the morning of Monday to assess the level of damage caused by the inferno had announced government’s readiness to provide immediate relief materials to the victims.

Going around the devastated market in the company of the Emir of Katagum, Alhaji Umar Farouk, the Governor who lamented that lack of access roads was responsible for the inability of fire-fighting vehicles to put down the inferno, said the government will ensure that the market is modernized when reconstructing it.

The Governor had earlier on Sunday commiserated with the people of Bauchi state over the deaths and destructions as a result of heavy downpour and windstorm.

The windstorm, which on Saturday evening cost the state many lives and hundreds of houses, schools and property worth millions of naira in many parts of the state.

In a broadcast to the state after personally carrying out an on the spot assessment of the communities affected by the windstorm in company of the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar said “As true believers, we should take the incident as an act of God and at the same time pray to Almighty Allah to give us the courage to bear the losses incurred.”

Governor Abubakar said the thorough assessment is being carried out on the destructions in all nooks and crannies of the state with a view to providing immediate assistance to the victims, stressing that the Federal Government will be intimated of the situation for possible immediate assistance.

“The state had witnessed a heavy downpour, which came along with heavy windstorm that caused serious destructions to homes, schools, farmlands, marketplaces in many parts of the state, all of which came just after our fervent prayers to the Almighty Allah for rains,” Governor Abubakar added.

The Governor unveiled the state government’s immediate plans, in conjunction with the traditional leaders, to redouble efforts in checking desertification and global warming as a way of reducing the effects of such destructive windstorm.

Governor Abubakar, therefore, called on traditional, religious and community leaders in the state to join the government in enlightening people on environmental protection techniques, particularly “The urgent need to stop cutting down trees, rather we should imbibe the culture of planting and protecting trees.”

The Governor appealed to philanthropists, corporate organizations and well-wishers to help the government by coming to the aid of the victims of the windstorm prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased.