An inferno has occurred at the newly built ultra modern market in old Port Harcourt township on Tuesday, at 7pm.
This publication gathered that the fire started from one of the stores immediately its owners left the market.
Block 11, 12, and 13 were seriously gutted with the fire at block 13, while goods belonging to victims were looted by not only hoodlums but fellow traders as the fire continues.
A pastor who pleaded for anonymity told our correspondent that his wife bags of garri and properties worth millions of naira were burnt in the fire and some were looted by hoodlums, adding that some of the hoodlums insinuated that more of these would happen as long as the Rivers State government had refused to cede the shops (stores) to the rightful owners. “Even when I heard the news my wife and I rushed to the market to pull out some bags of garri including the cash we kept in the store were forcefully looted by hoodlums, adding that at a point the security agents arrived and chased some of them out.
Another victim, Happiness said she had missed calls on her phone while in the evening class (lesson). Happiness said by the time she could get to the market all her garri bags were burnt to ashes, saying that the few bags of garri she brought out were forcefully collected by hoodlums.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government has been call to critically investigate the cause of the inferno and devise means of preventing subsequent occurrences. ###
Bennett James
