Shops, Building Razed In P-Harcourt Mile One Market Inferno

                             
Several shops at the Mile I market in Port Harcourt stuffed with food, clothings and other items for Christmas sales were yesterday razed in a wild fire of unknown source. The fire also burnt adjacent house, 57, Ikwerre Road, a two-storey building housing shop owners and other residents who lost virtually all their personal belongings to the fire.

The inferno was said to have started out at about 2 am, but no one could say precisely where it started from.

Rivers State Commissioner for Special Duties, Dickson Umunakwe, however blamed the extent of destruction caused by the fire on poor consciousness among traders and residents in the vicinity.

“Three things are involved in this disaster: Carelessness on the part of the traders and residents of this area, ignorance and sabotage. These factors contributed,” Umunake said.

According to him, efforts to co-opt the fire units of major oil companies in Port Harcourt which could have added value to the state fire service’s efforts to arrest the fire did not materialise as companies who were reached on phone declined assistance on the ground that they needed a go ahead from their managements.

Also reacting, the state Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari blamed the incident on sabotage, alleging a link between the inferno and current political uncertainties in the state.

“At 2 a.m, we heard dynamite and all kinds of sounds emanating from the Abonima Wharf area and also from the Marine Base. This sound continued. We are suspicious of sabotage in the light of current happenings in the state,” Semenitari said.

A factional Chairman of the Mile I Market Association, Chief Young Obene Clark Georgewill, had someone to blame too, as he accused the Chairman of a council in the state who displaced him of masterminding the burning of the market.

According to him, “Recently, I borrowed some money from a micro finance bank, but I was not feeling well so I gave it to my wife to stock my shop. Now everything is gone, burnt by these people.”

Kenneth Eze who replaced Georgewill, however, blamed the fire disaster on negligence by the council and the Rivers State Government on maintenance of the market.

As victims count their losses, the Chairman (Major) of Port Harcourt City Council has promised to build a more befitting market at the site of the burnt shops while also declaring to set up inquiry into the disaster.