At least five shops within the premises of the Onitsha General Post Office on Old Market Road, Anambra State, were gutted by fire. The blaze began around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, reportedly triggered by a power surge emanating from one of the shops. Eyewitnesses said the fire threatened to spread to a nearby filling station, creating panic. Members of local vigilante groups and other by‑standers quickly intervened to contain the flames.
The fire destroyed goods and property worth millions of naira. Monica Awuruebo, a trader whose shop was razed, said she lost all her merchandise, cash and other items. “A food vendor who is my neighbour called me on the telephone to rush to the post office immediately because my shop was on fire. I rushed to the scene and behold, my goods in the shop have been turned to ashes, and not a pin was recovered from my shop,” she recounted. Awuruebo added that a creditor she had asked to collect a debt arrived too late, and both the money and her goods were lost. “We have about five shops here and they were all touched, including scores of makeshift structures,” she said. “You can see that we have a total filling station close, and if not by the grace of God, it would have been gutted by fire, causing more damage and even loss of life. Thank God no life was lost.”
Awuruebo noted that the exact cause of the fire was still under investigation, though she suspected a power surge. Our correspondent, who visited the area, observed no firefighters or police at the scene. Residents claimed that all attempts to alert the fire service had been unsuccessful. The state fire chief, Martin Agbili, did not respond to calls or a text message sent to his telephone line regarding the incident at the time this report was filed.
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