No fewer than twenty traders lost their means of livelihoods after a midnight fire destroyed their shops in the central motor park of Guyuk, headquarters of Guyuk Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
The fire was said to have been caused by an electrical surge in one of the shops, and considering the odd hour of its occurrence, remained unnoticed for almost one full hour.
A witness said, “It took at least an hour before someone near the neighbourhood noticed what was happening and raised the alarm. People then gathered, many of them getting hold of buckets and all forms of containers to fetch water, which they threw into the fire and eventually succeeded in putting it out.”
The Guyuk branch Chairman of the Gamzaki Traders Association, Alhaji Hamza Mohammed, confirmed the incident, specifying that 20 traders who sell wrappers, used clothes, movie disks, fridges, grains and other food stuffs were affected.
A state government newspaper, The Scope, quoted Alhaji Hamza Mohammed as having said that all the goods in the burnt shops were destroyed beyond redemption, “except in four shops of a block which were forced open and the food stuffs in them removed to stop the fire from spreading.
The traders’ association chairman expressed the regret that the affected traders might be left on their own without the relevant authorities intervening.
“Promises were made to affected people when similar incidents occurred in Mararaba Guyuk Motor Park and Numan Motor Park some years ago, but till today, not even the burnt shops have been rebuilt,” Hamza Mohammed said.
He, however, still urged the Guyuk LGA and representatives of the people in government at all levels to do something this time for those affected in the Guyuk park incident.
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