Oyo State Fire Service said a candle lit and placed inside a shop at the Bola Ige International Market, new Gbagi Ibadan, was the cause of inferno that destroyed property worth millions of naira on Monday morning.
Mr Ismail Adeleke, the Director of Operations, Oyo State Fire Service Agency, made this known on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ibadan.
According to Adeleke, the agency received a distress call about the incident at exactly 7.50 a.m on Monday through one Ganiyu Ishola.
He said the agency personnel at the Gbagi market were promptly deployed to a section of the market known as “10 by 10” and extinguished the fire within shortest time.
Adeleke, however, said that four shops with property worth millions of naira were affected before the arrival of the personnel.
He said investigation carried out by the agency revealed that one of the shop owners placed a lit candle inside a shop and the candle ignited combustibles in the shop.
Adeleke urged traders and residents in the state to be safety conscious.
