By Emmanuel Obijuru
Shop owners alongTetlow StreetbySchool Road, Owerri, woke up in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to see their stalls gutted by fire.
According to an eyewitness account, no reason could be fingered for the cause of the fire outbreak which triggered fear and commotion among residents living close to the stalls. Though lives were lost in the inferno, but goods and property mainly electronics worth more than twenty million naira were destroyed.
The fire, according to the witness, also ruined a provision shop, while another shop adjacent to the electronics shop was gutted by the fire. No item was recovered from the shops.
Since the Harmattan hit the Nigerian weather space, fire outbreaks have become prevalent. Sometime last year, a popular commercial Bank alongDouglasroad, Owerri was gutted fire. The inferno spread to some shops close to the bank.
