Fire guts Benin market, EPDA office complex

Properties worth millions of naira were on Sunday destroyed by fire at the popular Ekiosa Market in Benin, Edo State.

The fire also gutted a five-storey office complex of the Edo Property Development Agency, located on the Sakponba Road.

The market fire, which started around 11am, caught the residents, most of who were still in church, unawares and forced many of them to abandon church services to salvage the situation.

One of the shop owners, Mrs Grace Edomo, said she was there when the market went up in flames, but could not state what actually started the fire.


“I was in my shop when I saw flames of fire in the market. My husband and I were inside the shop when he said he wanted to go home; as he was about to go, I looked outside and saw fire in the centre of the market. Unfortunately, there was nobody to help extinguish the fire since when it started,” she stated.