AN early morning inferno yesterday razed Yola Central Market destroying goods and property worth billions of naira.

The fire, which according to eyewitnesses started at about 2:30 a.m., went out of control as initial efforts to extinguish it was frustrated due to lack of access roads to the market.

Meanwhile, former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed sadness at the fire that engulfed the popular market.

In a press statement released in Abuja through his media office, Atiku said the fire incident is one too many and called on authorities in charge of public places like markets, schools and factories to be extra-vigilant at this period of the year.

He, therefore, called on the management of the Yola Central Market and other markets and places of business susceptible to fire outbreaks to work out ways and means of reducing fire outbreaks to the barest minimum.

A shop owner, Malam Babayola Maijimilla, whose shop was also razed, said “the fire started in the middle of the market, and efforts by early sympathisers to extinguish it was rebuffed by security operatives who denied them access to the market for fear of looting.

But the situation did not get better even upon the arrival of fire-fighters who could not gain access to the point of the inferno as the market did not have access roads.

Some of the affected shop-owners said they have lost everything they laboured for in life to the fire incident, thereby calling on the government to come to their aid.

Chairman, Adamawa Traders Association, popularly called Gamzaki Traders Association in Adamawa, Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammad, who appealed to federal, state and local governments to come to their aid, said they lost 90 per cent of their shops to the inferno.

Meanwhile, Adamawa State Deputy Governor, Martins Babale, who was among the early callers at the market, said government would assess the extent of damage with a view to knowing the level of intervention it would give.

He called on NEMA, corporate organisations and wealthy individuals to come to the aid of the marketers with a view to cushioning their sufferings.