Prostitutes burn down market near Abuja

Traders in the popular Orange Market in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa state said prostitutes around the market are responsible for the inferno last Thursday.

Some prostitutes pose for their 'customers'

During a visit to market today, our correspondent discovered that smoke was still coming out of the fire while carpenters were busy re-building their make-shift market hence there was no road into the market.

A trader, Mrs Glory, who owns a shop and sells food items in the market, exclusively told our correspondent that fire started when the task force from the Nasarawa Urban Development Board, NUDB demolished the prostitutes’ improvised chalets.

Glory said when the prostitutes discovered that they were the only one affected by the demolition, they set the market on fire.

Efforts by the Federal Fire Service to put off the fire proved abortive as the four tankers of water was not enough. It took the intervention of the Nigeria Mobile Police Force to stop looting in the market.

As usual, wheel barrow pushers capitalized on the situations to loot. They pretended to help the owners of the burnt shops to evacuate their goods and never return them to the owners.

Scene from the burnt market

Goods like yams, oranges, potatoes, banana, mangoes and others were burnt into ashes while some traders lost their money and other belongings in the inferno.

The Orange Market serves as the main markets to hoteliers, federal government agencies, including the State House Catering section while food and fruit dealers bring their items from Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi, Niger and other parts of the country.