Fire Outbreak: NEXT Cash & Carry Mgt. Suspects Foul Play; Requests Thorough Investigation

By Gideon Njoku

The Management of NEXT Cash & Carry Supermarket, Abuja, which was razed by a massive fire in the morning of December 26, 2021, suspects foul play in the tragedy which shook not only Abuja, but Nigeria.

It has, therefore, asked the Government and all agencies concerned to for a thorough investigation to expose the truth.

The multi-billion Naira Supermarket, regarded as the biggest Supermarket in Abuja, is wholy owned by Mr Ndibe Obi, a younger brother of Peter Obi, a former two-time Governor of Anambra State, and the Vice Presidential candidate of the  Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019 Presidential  election.

The Supermarket suddenly went up in flames on December 26, 2021, at about 10.45am. No life was lost, as the Supermarket was billed to open by 12noon. But indide were some staff, including cleaners, who were getting the place ready for business of the day  to start.

In a statement signed by its General Manager, Mr Neil Pape,  the first reaction since the incident, the Management said the fire incident was not only worrisome, but capable of affecting, adversely, investment in Abuja and the country as a whole.

Pape: “The company would like to appeal to the investigating authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain the immediate and remote cause of the fire outbreak which is strange and has the effect of adversely affecting future investments in the FCT and Nigeria at large.”

Many Nigerians insist that the Supermarket was targeted because of the Peter Obi connection. Not a few people have the impression it belongs to him not knowing the chain of shops, NEXT Cash & Carry, belongs to Ndibe Obi, Peter Obi’s younger brother.

Pape, the General Manager, described the fire incident as strange. Already, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Adamu, who expressed shock at what he called a tragedy, promised a thorough investigation.

Following is the full text of NEXT Management’s statement on the massive December 26 incident which has rendered about 1000 direct staff members and over 3,000 vendors out of work.

“The shop was scheduled to open on the 26th December 2021 being Boxing Day at 12 pm. It is important to state that the cleaners, cashiers, security & bakery staff came into the shop in the early hours of 26th December 2021 to clean and get all the facets of the store ready for operations at 12 pm. The cleaners had barely finished cleaning the store when the fire started from one of the departments in the store. The staff immediately alerted the firefighters, as well as security operatives.

“They all assisted in no small measure to reduce the extent of the damage caused by the fire.

“Further to the foregoing, Next Cash and Carry Facilities & Store were built & operated according to international standards. As the General Manager of Next Cash and Carry Nigeria, I had worked in the best retail outlets in the world before joining Next Cash and Carry Nigeria and with my wealth of experience, I can confirm that the operations of Next Cash and Carry Nigeria and its facilities are of first-class standard.

“The roof covering of Next Cash & Carry building is fireproof and was built by Tower Aluminum, Kaduna. Next Cash and Carry Limited has a competent firefighting truck in Abuja which has assisted the Fire Service in several fire incidents in Abuja.

“The company has fire extinguishers and fire hose reels connected to the hydrant placed in strategic positions all within the store under the FCT Fire service supervision. The FCT Fire service conducts quarterly fire outbreak training for all staff & certifies all our operations. Next Cash and Carry has outsourced & employed a professional security company (Olode Security and Technology Nigeria.

“The company also has a staff strength of about 1,000 direct and indirect staff and over 3,000 vendors, with 200 farmers supplying items to the store.

“The company would like to appeal to the investigating authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain the immediate and remote cause of the fire outbreak which is strange and has the effect of adversely affecting future investments in the FCT and Nigeria at large.”

Anambra State Government has since lamented the incident, and extended its sympathy to the Management and Staff of NEXT Cash & Carry Supermarket