Tragedy struck yesterday following an early morning fire that razed nine shops at the popular Oja-Oba Market, mainly occupied by local herb sellers along Ibokun road in Osogbo, Osun State.
   
Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the state, who visited the scene to commiserate with the shop owners,  directed that one of the affected buildings be pulled down.
 
One of the victims, Ishola Olalekan, said his shop was razed and that wares including herbs, animal skins, cowries among other native items were destroyed.
   
Olalekan said: “The fire started at about 1:00a.m., but his attention was called to it at about 3:00am.  A vigilante personnel who was watching the market discovered the fire before he raised the alarm.
   
Fire firefighters were said to have arrived at the scene after and put out the fire, but goods worth millions of naira were destroyed.
 
Olalekan said: “My shop is part of those that got burnt. I sell animal skin, cowries, and other things that have been prepared for use by my customers. There are items I sell to foreigners and I have like 12 of them prepared and each of them costs N130,000, apart from the cowries and animal skin that I haven’t used. There is a soap there I prepared which was ordered from Brazil.
 
“All the items that got destroyed cost more than 100 million. Most of my customers are angry about this sad incident because their herbs had been destroyed. We thank the firefighters for arriving at the scene on time. We want government to assist us,” he pleaded.
 
Babalola Oyebode, a provision seller whose shop was not affected, said the fire destroyed properties and goods worth several millions of naira.
 
“The fire started from one of the shops before it spread to the others. Total of nine shops were burnt before the fire service arrived.  I think the fire was caused by an electricity surge,” he said.
 
Spokesperson for the Fire Service in Osun State, Ibrahim Adekunle, who confirmed the incident, said several properties were destroyed before the arrival of his officials who got to the scene three minutes after they were informed.
 
Adekunle, who did not disclose the cause of  the incident said: “The fire started some hours before the men of Osun State Fire Service, Okefia Station, were informed through one Mr. Oyedele Muftau, who visited our station.
      
The incident occured five days after a midnight fire gutted two warehouses around Alekuwodo in Osogbo.