The blaze, which primarily affected three shops, including a provision store, was reportedly caused by a power surge linked to a faulty electrical connection in one of the structures that caught fire.

Samuel Ifurunwa, the chairman of the market, shared details of the incident when our correspondent visited the scene on Sunday. He recounted being alerted to the fire around 3 am on Saturday. According to Ifurunwa, market security operatives quickly responded to the emergency, discovering that the fire originated from a makeshift structure where an electrical connection had been made the previous evening.

“When the electricity was restored around 3 am, the faulty connection sparked a fire, which security operatives identified as coming from one of the newly electrified structures,” Ifurunwa explained. He added that the power surge exacerbated the situation, causing weak wires to ignite and the fire to spread to two neighboring shops.

Efforts by security operatives to extinguish the fire were initially hampered, as the flames spread rapidly due to fuel stored inside one of the shops. Despite contacting fire service units from Asaba and the main market, it was the Okpoko fire service that ultimately responded and managed to bring the fire under control, though not before it destroyed three makeshift structures.