Fire razes Katsina Central market

Some sections of the Katsina Central market were razed on Monday with hundreds of shops burnt to ashes and goods worth millions of naira lost.

Daily Trust gathered that the inferno started around 8:30am from a shop and quickly spread to other parts of the market.

A combined team of federal and state fire fighters, state emergency management agency, police and other security agencies were still battling to put out the fire at the time of filing this report.

Alhaji Abbas Labaran Alibaba, the chairman of the traders’ Association of the market, said the fire began in a shop close to the market mosque, adding that the estimate of the wealth lost could not be ascertained.

He ruled out electrical problem as the possible cause of the fire, saying there was no electric power supply at the time of the incident.

Governor Bello Masari of Katsina State, who went round the affected sections to see the extent of the damage, was obviously shocked as he left without uttering a word to the media.

However, Masari, while addressing newsmen at the Katsina Government House, shortly after he returned from the sympathy visit and inspection of the disaster, said the level of devastation caused by the inferno was unprecedented in the history of the state.

The governor said a comprehensive assessment of the incident could only be ascertained after the fire had been completely put out.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over the fire incident in Katsina Central Market Monday morning which destroyed hundreds of shops and goods worth billions of naira.

President Buhari reacted to the incident in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu.