Traders Weep As Midnight Fire Razes Auto Parts Market in Ibadan

A midnight fire has destroyed properties worth millions of naira at Araromi market, Agodi-Gate, Ibadan.

The Agodi market, which hosts a Wema Bank, correctional centre, mosque and other offices, is the largest spare part market in Oyo State.

SaharaReporters learnt that the state government had earlier issued notice to quit to the traders in the market.

An eyewitness told SaharaReporters that the fire, now spreading toward the Agodi Correctional Centre, started around midnight on Saturday.

Our correspondent, who visited the market, observed that the Federal Fire Servicemen are currently battling to put out the fire while owners of the burnt shops were crying for help.

A trader, identified as Afeez, described the inferno as ‘monumental destruction’ which traders might not recover in their lifetime.

“This is a huge debt. I have partners abroad. I don’t know how to tell them about all this now. All my goods were burnt,”  he lamented.