As goods worth billions of naira were on Tuesday night consumed by a late evening inferno that gutted a shopping mall on Lagos Street, Benin City, Edo State, the issue became a ding- dangerous between the state government and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Mr. Chris Osa Nehikhare, accused the leadership of the APC in the state of being responsible for the fire outbreak, which he said had become too coincident to be accidental as the incidents occur anytime an election was approaching.
Nehikhare, who premised his suspicion on the press statement issued by the APC, which gloated over the unfortunate incident and attempted to make a political gain out of it, called on security agencies in the state to invite the Edo State APC Chairman, Col. David Imuse (Rtd) and the spokesman for the party’s Presidential Campaign Council in the state, Mr. John Mayaki, for questioning over their alleged complicity in the fire outbreak.
This was just as Mr. Mayaki, in a press statement issued on Wednesday accused the Governor Godwin Obaseki-administration’s of “unconscionable negligence, especially on the issue of incessant fire incidents reducing people’s livelihoods and means of economic survival to ashes”.
The Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, in his address at the press conference, noted that “The Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) has confirmed our strong suspicion that they are responsible or at least complicit in the Lagos Street fire of yesterday and similar fire incidents that have happened in eve or during electioneering campaigns season in the past, in our State”.
The text of the statement reads:
“The coincidence of the timing of these unwarranted fires is cause for concern. Edo State government strongly believes that the APC must be involved.
“Recall that prior to the 2020 gubernatorial election, Eki Osa, Santana, and Oba Markets were set on fire as confirmed by the spokesman of the APC, John Mayaki.
“In fact, traders in Ekiosa Market told journalists then that the fire was the handiwork of mischief makers, at a time the APC was aggressively looking for ways to blackmail Governor Godwin Obaseki and dent his high popularity ratings weeks before the election.
“It would interest you to know that since after the last gubernatorial election in Edo State, there haven’t been any market fires.
“Now that elections are coming again, the APC has resorted to one of its devilish and inhuman tactics and has started with the Lagos Street fire incident.
“Burning down markets is not a way to resurrect a dead political party that has manufactured unprecedented levels of poverty for Nigerians.
“We want to warn them and their collaborators to desist from this life of crime. Arson is a crime punishable by jail time. Both sponsors and perpetrators are equally liable.
“We advise the youths not to allow themselves to be used to sabotage our mothers and fathers in the markets and in the larger society.
“The relevant agencies of government have commenced investigations into the Lagos Street fire incident and no stones will be left unturned in the process because enough is enough. Col Imuse Rtd, APC State Chairman, and Mr. John Mayaki, Chairman of Edo Media and Publicity Committee of the APC Presidential Campaign Council are persons of interest and should be invited to help with the investigation of not just this fire but all previous market fires on the eve of elections in Edo State.
“APC cannot continue to play politics with People’s means of livelihood”, Nehikhare reiterated.
Earlier, in a statement, the APC Edo Presidential Campaign Council spokesman, Mayaki, criticized the Edo State Government’s alleged failure to find a lasting solution to regular fire incidents which ravage major markets in Benin City, the Edo State capital, particularly at the end of the year.
The APC statement reads in part:
“Every December, innocent women and traders in Edo State are made to suffer the terrible tragedy of seeing their life investments, and possibly sole means of economic survival, destroyed by fire outbreaks enabled by the negligence and irresponsibility of the state government.”
“What is most troubling is that these incidents have followed the same pattern within the life of the hapless Obaseki-administration, with no serious or proactive response from the government despite the heavy toll on the well-being of ordinary citizens, including market women who form the lifeblood of Edo State’s commerce.”
Mayaki questioned why the Obaseki-administration was ever so eager to exact high taxes on the citizens without providing the requisite public services expected of any responsible government to the people.
“It appears this administration, in keeping with the PDP’s approach of milking people and state without any tangible investment in public services and infrastructure, is only interested in raising and withdrawing taxes, without doing anything to help the people”, Mayaki lamented.
Whilst commiserating with the victims, he urged them to punish the PDP with their votes in 2023 and “set Edo on a recourse of renewal beginning with the election of Tinubu at the top of the ballot, and candidates of the APC contesting state and federal elections in the state”.
The inferno occurred at a shopping mall, which houses over forty shops, where cosmetics and kitchen utensils are sold.
According to an eyewitness, the mall caught fire at about 7.30 pm in the evening owing to an electrical surge from Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).
The eye witness, who gave his name as Joseph Eboigbe, a dealer in cosmetics on Lagos Street said, there was no power supply all through Tuesday until at about 7.00 pm when the power supply was restored with a very high power surge and by then most of the shop owners had gone home.
“What happened was that there was no light all through Tuesday, until at about 7.00 pm when the light came, but then many people had gone home. At about 7.30 pm, we started seeing smoke from one of the shops, before anything serious could happen, there was this burst of flame and that was how everywhere caught fire, we have to call the fire service, which came, but before then most of the shops were already consumed.
They saved the day because they came with two vehicles and if it were not for their efforts the fire would have extended to other shops and houses there”, Eboigbe further explained.
A victim of the fire incident, Pual Umoh, 70, who said he had been in one of the shops that were gutted by fire since 1981 and deals in kitchen utensils, said he lost over N10 million in the incident.
According to him, “I was around till 6.30 pm before going home, I didn’t see any sign of fire, but when I got home, took my birth and was about eat, I received a phone call that No 16 Lagos Street, where I have a shop is on fire.
“Before I could get to the place, the whole place was already gutted by fire. I was able to bring out some things, but those things were also damaged by the fire brigade people, who stepped on them and damaged them.
“The Fire People used water and even the water fetched from the gutter was poured on my goods. All the glasses were all broken”, he lamented.
Moh pleaded with the government to come to their aid, as it is becoming very difficult to live as a result of the high cost of living.
“I want the government to assist us, we know that during the time of Adams Oshiomhole, those whose shops were gutted by fire at Agbado Market were given some assistance by the government, but for Obaseki, we have seen more than 5 markets gutted by fire in the last two years, but they did not give them anything. I have lost over N10 million to this fire incident .” he lamented.
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