The Christmas celebration for traders at the timber market along Weathdral road Owerri, capital of Imo State was cut short following the razing down of the market by fire.
The unfortunate incident which occurred on the eve of 24th December 2022 preceding to 25th Christmas day brought over 300 shops at the market to rumbles.
The fire inferno which started around 1 am on the said day destroyed shops, goods, vehicles, and other properties worth billions of Naira.
Counting their losses, a shop owner in the market Chinemere Ikerionwu aka (Oracle) who is a furniture dealer said he has lost millions of Naira in the incident.
He regretted that he has lost everything and its living in total confusion and do not know what nest to do
Ikerionwu told Nigerian Tribune in Owerri Monday that he was in his house around 3 am on 24th December when someone called him and on getting to the place, he saw nothing in his shop even a pin.
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Another shop owner Mr. Bekee Darlinton Chinaza and a furniture dealer said that nobody could say the course of the fire because it happens when there was no NEPA light.
He said that someone called him over the incident and when he get to the market, he could not recognize his shop because everything was burnt to ashes.
Bekee said that he lost everything in the shop adding that the situation now is that he will start afresh.
He cried to the Government of the day to come to their rescue to enable him to begin life again.
An eyewitness to the incident Mr. Benjamin Onyewuchi thanked God for saving his wife’s shop from being affected by the fire.
He said that the fire incident occurred just a few hours after some dealers had offloaded some trailer loads of goods.
He thanked God that no loss of life was recorded and regretted that a lot of traders have lost their means of livelihood.
Onyewuchi described the market as a major employer of labor adding that some youths from the Oyema community and other parts of Owerri come around there to seek succor.
According to him, they are unemployed but they come there to do their unskilled labor and they are paid from there they make their living.
He called on Government to come to the rescue of the traders who according to him took bank loans and mortgaged their properties to beef up their shop breezing up for the season.
