It was a Thursday that would stay in their hearts for a while if not for a lifetime. The day had started with the usual buying and selling at the popular Apata market area of Ibadan with traders attending to customers as early as 7 a.m.
They had prayed to have a hitch-free day and it was unlikely anyone of them would have wished it on himself to lose his means of livelihood.
As the day wore on and gradually faded, many of the traders saw more opportunities to make more sales. But a sudden noise a few meters away was to throw the traders into panic. The the somehow organised atmosphere of the evening market became chaotic forcing many traders to abandon their shops and run for safety. Though time was 6:10pm, the sky was covered in darkness with the only light illuminating the area the bellowing fire that had consumed a few shops.
“It was like a bomb explosion had occurred and day suddenly turned night with everyone wandering and scampering for safety,” an eyewitness who simply gave his name as Sunday Afolabi told Sunday Tribune of the experience that will change their lives forever.
A tanker loaded with diesel had lost control due to brake failure and was moving at top speed clearing away everything and everyone that stood in its way. The thundering noise of people at the other side of the road where the tanker was headed alerted traders whose shops were close to the road side to move away quickly to avoid being caught in the disaster waiting to happen.
A few seconds after, the tanker had skidded off the road and caught fire; shops and businesses were ruined. But while the traders were lucky not to have been caught in the inferno, their goods and other wares were not as the fire destroyed goods worth millions of naira.
When Sunday Tribune visited the scene on Saturday, many traders who were affected by the ugly incident were still counting their losses. The mood was pensive as none of them was yet to come to terms with how their lifetime investment could be ruined while they watched helplessly.
Pointing at his burnt shop, Lazarus Chukwu looked dejected and hopeless. His were heavy and his fingers looked dirty, saying “I have been picking the floor looking for nothing. I don’t even know what I am doing at this moment. Where do I start from? How do I pay back the loan I took from bank? Another repayment day is on Thursday. I don’t know where to raise the money or where to go from here”, he said looking dejected.
To many of them, the shocking part of it was that they had just took loan facilities from microfinance banks to stock their shops ahead of the festive season sales but the twist of fate has left them gnashing their teeth and asking questions about how life could be so cruel to them.
Some of the traders who arrived at their shops on Thursday morning with the hope of a promising day in anticipation of the festive season sales were heartbroken and left distraught seeing their shops burnt and goods destroyed by the fire.
With swollen eyes and hazy voice, one could tell that Mrs Yusuf had been crying since the day she lost her shop and goods to the inferno as she struggled to mutter words to describe how she feels at the moment.
According to the mother of two, she saw the tanker coming just like every shop owner but the only thing that came to her mind was to rescue her two children who were sleeping inside the shop. As soon as the tanker fell and spilled its content, fire broke out and engulfed her shop and several others.
“I really don’t know what to say at the moment because I can’t even understand what is happening to my life right now. I saw the tanker fall and spilled its content. Suddenly there was fire everywhere but I could pick anything from my shop where I sell household items and building materials worth over 10 million naira. I carried my children and we ran as far our legs could take us. I saw how my shop was burnt down”, she lamented.
From Mrs Yusuf to Mr David Ezeanochie, whose boutique was also razed, life has not been the same for him. According to him, he had just secured a loan facility to buy new clothes and shoes ahead of the festive season sales but he lost everything to the blaze that destroyed more than 50 shops.
In his words, “I lost goods worth 50 million naira to this ugly incident. My life has been destroyed. I am back to level zero and there is nothing more to say but to appeal to the government and kind-hearted Nigerians within and outside the country to provide financial assistance that could help us get back on our feet.”
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When our Sunday Tribune visited the other side of the market where people were seen standing and thinking of what next for them, it was observed that the stalls and materials in some of the shops had been reduced to scraps and ashes. A shop which belongs to one Adegbenro Abiodun who sells laptops, printing machines and computer accessories was burnt to ashes. He said he lost more than 5 million naira.
Several stall owners were seen carrying burnt remains of their machines as others cried with hands on their heads, while sympathisers consoled them. Some of them claimed they had not eaten since Thursday as there was nothing else to fall back on.
The owner of one of the shops who got married last week Saturday said he was on his honeymoon with his wife when he got a call that his shop was razed, noting that the whole building which housed DSTV dishes decoders, generating sets, Plasma Televisions among others was burnt down in less than 15 minutes.
Aderonke Okonjo sells kids’ toys and other accessories bemoaned her loss, saying she could have been trapped in the fire if she didn’t wake up early to escape through the back door of her shop. An onion seller, Kabiru Mutairu was lucky to be alive as the tanker fell directly on his shop when he had just stepped out. Mutairu said about 100 bags of onions worth 500,000 naira was destroyed by the fire.
‘We called firefighters but they said there was no water’
Some of the traders said the situation could have been brought under control if the Oyo State fire fighters had come to their rescue early enough but they claimed they had no water in their tank.
“We waited endlessly for them to come but they never showed up. We are grateful to firefighters from Sumal and Zartech, though they came but it was too late as there was nothing could be done salvage the situation.”
‘The driver of the tanker removed number plate, bolted’
Lateefatu Aderemi and Afolabi Wemimo who both lost good worth two million naira told Sunday Tribune that they saw the driver remove the number plate of the tanker as soon as it fell and took to his heels. “We actually saw the driver but nobody was concerned about the driver or the tanker, we had to escape or we would be caught in the raging fire that destroyed our shops”.
Life must go on
Sunday Tribune observed that the traders are trying to raise money to return to business even as they wait on government to make true its promise of supporting them back to life. They understand the danger of trading by the road side but they said they could not just sit back at home doing nothing.
One Folashade Jemiseye whose building materials shop was razed said life must go on as nothing can be done to bring back what has been lost. She said goods worth about 10 million naira were lost to the fire incident.
“This is where we make our living and we know that it is dangerous coming out here because anything can happen or another tanker might have a brake failure and spill its content again but we have to live our lives and pray that government provides succor to deal with this disaster the befell us”, she said.
and then