Oba Market Inferno: President Buhari Orders Investigation Into Benin Market Fire

Official Spokesman to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu reported that the Nigerian President has called for an investigation into the fire that consumed the livelihoods of traders at the Oba Market, Benin, Edo State.

The president further urged  local and federal authorities to provide assistance to victims of the fire incident.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their shops and wares”, he said, expressing his condolences to victims of the blaze.

The fire on Monday morning struck the market, named after the Oba, in Benin City, destroying shops and goods valued at millions of naira.

Traders have blamed the fire on a power surge, but others remain suspicious, speculating that the fire might have been started as a political ploy, giving the raging divisions between APC and PDP parties in Edo State.

Shehu said:
“President Muhammadu Buhari has called on local and federal authorities to provide assistance to victims of the fire incident in Oba Market, Benin, Edo State.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their shops and wares.’’
The President also directed an investigation into the cause of the inferno, in order to avoid the “horrific’’ situation in the future, while condoling with all those that were affected”.

The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki assured that full investigation will be made into the cause of the Inferno, as a committee towards that end was set up on Monday.

“I heartily sympathize with our industrious traders at Oba Market, who woke up this morning to the fire incident in parts of the market.

I want to assure them that govt has set up a committee to unravel the cause of the fire and would ensure the perpetrators are brought to book”– Godwin Obaseki, Edo State.

A combined team of firefighters from the federal and Edo state units, the Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport, and Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation helped put the fire out.

The market is located close to the palace of the Oba of Benin, in the heart of the state’s capital Benin City.