An early morning fire, on Saturday, razed the popular auto spare parts market at Agodi-Gate, Ibadan, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
According to an eyewitness, Mr Ismail Dauda, the fire started from the tyre section before spreading to other parts of the market, especially the car engine section and other shops, with goods worth millions destroyed.
Dauda said that distress calls were made to the Oyo State Fire Service, but even the timely response of the fire fighters, however, could not stop the inferno, because of lack of access to the source of the fire which had been blocked by engine parts.
“The team of fire fighters that came to the market parked their trucks at the nearest place to the scene, but they could not really do anything tangible to stop the fire due to lack of access and their water hoses could not get to the scene,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Oyo state Chief Fire Officer, Mr Moshood Adewuyi, who spoke with NAN, confirmed that the incident started overnight and may have been caused by a power surge, which was escalated by nylons used to wrap the tyres.
He, however, reported no human casualties and that his men were still at the market, to prevent the further spread of the fire.
“Our men are still at the market, we are still there. I cannot, however, tell you the number of shops that were destroyed,” he said.
NAN gathered that the market’s electricity supply was only recently restored, after years of black out.