Goods, equipment and properties worth millions have been destroyed in a fire that ravaged five shops in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, in the early hours of Wednesday.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident happened beside Olowo-Ifon shopping complex, Orita challenge, in Ibadan.
Five out of the eleven affected shops were destroyed and some were salvaged.
Chairman of the Oyo State Fire Service, Maroof Akinwande confirmed the incident in a statement, noting that the agency were informed of the fire around 2.24am on Wednesday.
He added that the cause of the fire could be traced to an electric surge.
He said, “On Wednesday 9th July, 2025, at exactly 02: 24hrs, the incident was reported through telephone call. The agency’s personnel led by CFS Adesina Olusoji promptly mobilized to the scene of incident and on arrival, we met shops engulfed by fire.
“We quickly swung into action and restricted the fire from spreading to unaffected nearby shops and the nearby shopping complex. The fire was completely extinguished and fire safety advice was given to the public on how to prevent fire incident.
The fire affected five(5) out of eleven (11) shops and the agency’s personnel were able to save properties worth of millions naira. The fire incident was traced to be electric surge ignited nearby combustibles and set the shops ablaze”.
