From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Traders at Masaka Market have been lamenting the inferno that gutted the facility leading to loss of goods worth billions of naira, and have accused the Nasarawa State Government of complicity in the disaster.
No one knows the cause of the fire; however, some people suspect some individuals cooking in the market might have caused the incident, while some others suspected the fire might have emanated from the meat section.
Nevertheless, some traders are accusing the Nasarawa State Government of inducing the fire so that it could take over the market.
According to the traders, the Umaru Tanko Al-Makura administration had attempted to take over the market until recently but was by the traders.
Sunday Sun learnt that apart from N15, 000 contribution by each trader in the market, Gbagi women protested naked and walked round the market, swearing that the facility was their ancestral market and no government was permitted to take it away from them or relocate it.
A trader who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that earlier, the whole traders in the market contributed the sum of N15, 000 each to fight the matter which is still in court.
He said: “We contributed N15, 000 each for the case. They even attempted to take it over in 2017 through fire outbreak but the inferno was not as devastating as this recent one.
Now, they have found a good reason to perfect their plans.”
Another trader lamented that what was stolen was far more than what was burnt.
“As I was retrieving my goods and keeping them on one side, other people were carrying them away. You will see people carting away your goods but you cannot pursue them because if you do, others will take what you have already gathered,” he said.
One trader (in tears) told Sunday Sun that she lost goods worth over N20 million in her store together with N5 million cash.
Ironically, while some people were in agony, scavengers were busy making brisk businesses, picking metals and selling them to buyers even at the scene of disaster.
The market has been at the centre of a legal battle between the government and the traders on one hand, and between the government and Gbagi indigenes on the other.
Whereas the traders refused to relocate to International Market where the government spent billions to construct stalls, the indigenes claim that the market is their ancestral market.