The Sokoto central market Tuesday morning was gutted by fire with many shops and goods burnt to ashes.
Although the cause of the fire was not officially confirmed, ASHENEWS gathered from sources that fire started at 6am as a result of an electricity transformer spark, which also spiked the fire to other parts of the market.
ASHENEWS reports that the market, which access roads are all occupied by makeshift shops, initially made it difficult for firefighting vehicles to gain access to the affected areas.
A source told ASHENEWS that it took the firefighters close to two hours to have access to the area that the inferno affected.
Meanwhile, governor Aminu Tambuwal, the deputy governor, Manir Dan’Iya with other government officials, visited the market for on-the-spot assessment of the inferno.
Tambuwal described the fire incident as an act of God and prayed Allah to forestall future occurrence.
According to him, a committee would be set up to investigate the remote causes of the frequent fire outbreaks at central the market.
Similarly, Sokoto police command, has “despatched detachments of detectives from all formations within the Command to checkmate possible nefarious activities around the scene, prevent victims from unsafe entry into the market, ensure free flow of traffic, aid fire fighters, assist sister security agencies at the scene, prevent looting, guide sympathizers, prevent breakdown of law and order, ascertain the cause of the inferno and losses incurred,” a statement by its spokesperson, Muhammad Sadiq said.
