​Fire gutted 11 shops at the Sokoto Central Market on Tuesday night.

Witnesses said it took the combined efforts of Fire men from the state Fire Service, personnel of the civil defence corps, the police, traders and some good Samaritans to put out the fire by 3:00 am on Wednesday.

Traders affected said the fire, which started at about 12:00 midnight, destroyed goods and property worth millions of naira.

“There was no public electricity supply when the fire started but subsequent investigations will reveal the likely causes of the fire.

“No life was lost due to the inferno and there was no injury, only the heavy losses incurred by the affected traders,” Mamman Dan-Tullo, a fireman said.

One of the affected traders, Abubakar Murtala, said he lost assorted food items, cosmetics, essential commodities, detergents and cash, among others, to the inferno.

Mr. Murtala expressed happiness that no life was lost, but lamented that the incident had set them backward.

“We have been taken backward as we have lost all that we had laboured for several decades,” he said.

Another victim, Aminu Maisuga appealed to the Sokoto State Government and other public spirited individuals to come to their aid.

” We want an assistance in terms of money to re-start our businesses, and we appeal to the state government to immediately renovate the burnt shops,” Maisuga added.

The Staff Officer of the market, Bashiru Isa, said that the management would forward a report of the incident to the government for prompt action.

” The state government will surely rehabilitate the burnt shops and render necessary financial assistance to the victims,” he said.

The Commandant, Nigeria Civil Defence Corps in the state, Yusha’u Yamel, said personnel of the corps had been deployed to the affected section of the market to provide security and prevent looting.

(NAN)