Published 5th May, 2023

On Friday afternoon, reports of a fire outbreak in Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos State, went viral.

The reports quoted a tweet by the Lagos State Fire Service. In this tweet, the service said there was a fire outbreak in the market and angry mobs were turning its officials away.

The service also said it was working with security agencies to address the matter.

Emergency Alert!

Report reaching Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service indicates shops at the popular Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos are on Fire. However, Fire Crew from Ojo, Sari-Iganmu and Ajegunle are being turned back by angry mobs from performing their statutory…
— Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (@LagosRescue) May 5, 2023

Reacting to one of the reports made by a newspaper, Benjamin Hundeyin, Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, dubbed it a “false narrative!”

Hundeyin said police from the Ojo Division raided shanties around the market, arrested suspects and recovered some weapons. He then said, “The shanties were thereafter set on fire. Alaba Int’l Market is NOT on fire!”

Police Spokesperson's tweet about Alaba market fire outbreak — Hundeyin’s tweet

When this reporter quizzed Hundeyin over why the shanties were set on fire, he said it was “not a murder scene that needs to be cordoned off and protected for its evidential value. This was a criminal hideout that had already been raided. We’ve taken all the evidence we need”.

FIJ has now found new information that deviates from Hundeyin’s comments.

A source who was present at the scene told FIJ that the incident happened in the Alaba Rago area of Ojo, where scrap panels are sold.

The source, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told FIJ that it was a fight behind the market between suspected cultists and hoodlums, and during the fight, a known pickpocket, Emeka, was killed.

He said police arrived at the scene and were making arrests when someone grabbed a Molotov cocktail and threw it towards a gas cylinder. This cylinder exploded, killing Emeka in the process and burning other parts of the area behind the market.

At the time the source spoke with FIJ, the police were still at the scene.

FIJ’s conversation with source

The source said, “From back of Alaba Rago where they sell scrap panels, there was a fight there between those small cultists boys and other people.

“Along the line, they stoned bottle that had alcohol and carried fire. The thing hit a machinery for cylinder gas, and it exploded, causing some parts of a building to catch fire.

“The fight is still on till now, but they are not coming to our side. There are people that got injured, and one got killed. He was a pickpocket. We are just confirming that another one got killed. He was an aboki.

“The thing cut parts of his veins and his nerves. They are still running, but we are calm, we just relax inside a shop in case they are coming, we’ll just lock door.”

The man added that the fire service was unable to intervene, but the police was at the scene to make arrests.

In a video seen by FIJ, people in the market are scampering as black smoke rise from behind them.

When FIJ called Hundeyin for comment, he said the narrative on the Molotov cocktail being used to start the fire was new information to him but he would stick to his narrative on the sequence of events.

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