There was pandemonium at Eleyele community, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday, as several shops with equipment worth millions of naira were reportedly razed by fire.

The affected market is famous for cassava processing and sale of cassava products, including starch, fufu and garri.

A section of the Ifesowapo, Iso-Ege market, Eleyele, Ibadan was completely destroyed during the incidence.

The cause of the fire was yet to be determined as of the time of filing this report.

According to an eyewitness, Dorcas Olasunkanmi, the inferno started in the early hour of Thursday. She said, “The fire razed the entire Iso-Ege market before the arrival of officials of the Oyo State Fire Service.

One of the affected traders, Modupe Adepoju, said she lost her life savings to the inferno.

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Adepoju, who said all her wares had perished in the fire, appealed to the state government to come to the aid of the traders whose investment had been lost to fire.

She said, “It is a loss beyond imagination. I process cassava and I make starch. My grinding machines and pots got completely damaged. Our shops, equipment and cassava products had been destroyed by fire. We are appealing to the government for assistance.”

The Director, Oyo State Fire Service, Moshood Adewuyi, who confirmed the incident, said firemen were mobilised to the scene following a distress call in the early hours of Thursday.

Adewuyi urged the traders to observe safety procedures in order to guide against similar incidents in the future.

It was learnt that the market witnessed a similar occurrence on February 18 with several shops affected.