Controversy Over Olowu Spare Part Fire Incident

By Akinwale Kasali

There is controversy over the fire incident which engulfed the Olowu Spare Parts Market, Ikeja.

The sprawling Market was engulfed by tongues of fire Thursday morning which caused extensive loss to the tune of hundreds of millions  of Naira.

Given the ethnic tension in Lagos between the Yoruba and the Igbo, a consequence of the 2023 General Elections, speculations were strong that some people deliberate set the market on fire.

Traders in the market are mainly of Igbo extraction. The reasoning, therefore, is that the market was set on fire to hurt the Igbo for the defeat in Lagos, of Presidential-elect, Bola Tinubu, by Peter Obi, an Igbo, and the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP.

This has, however, been debunked by eyewitnesses and traders at the market. They blamed the fire incident on negligence by some Shop owners.

The fire, they said, started from a shop that contained Air Conditioners, vehicle parts and motorcycles.

It was gathered that an electrical malfunctioning led to the fire outbreak that affected other shops close- by. It escalated and affected a storey building which housed many other shops.

Goods worth millions of Naira were lost in the inferno.

Chijioke Orji, one of the traders whose shop was affected stated that the fire was not politically motivated as it was  triggered by an electrical fault.

“The intervention of the men of the Lagos State Fire Service and Security Operatives salvaged the situation which could have been worse than it was, and would have affected more shops on the street.

“I was at the shop when it happened. My neighbour raised alarm that there was fire at the other shop leading to pandemonium. It however took the intervention of some other traders to rescue some goods from the shop.

“We thank God that no body died, we only lost some of our goods, but we give glory to God”.

Another eyewitness, Lawrence Agoche, told this reporter that if not that it happened in the morning and not late in the night it would have been disastrous.

Agoche said that there was nothing political about it as they have put the election behind them as it has come and gone.

“Election is over, we are back to our businesses, nothing like anything political about all this things, it is a natural disaster which has to do with negligence. We don’t want any trouble and people should stop spreading rumour”.

It would be recalled that just before the Governorship election, the popular Akere Spare Parts Market on Kirikiri Road, Olodi Apapa in Ajegunle, which traders are mainly Igbo, was set on fire by unknown persons who shot to death a Security guard. Goods and properties worth hundreds of millions of Naira werelost in the inferno.

It was also speculated that it was politically orchestrated.

Efforts to reach the Olowu Spare Part Market Chairman and the Public Relations Officer proved abortive before filing this story.