ATBU midnight inferno consumes properties worth millions of naira

By Mohammed Kaka Misau

A midnight inferno that occurred at the Yelwa Campus of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa university Bauchi has gutted properties worth millions of naira.

The fire incident which destroyed 42 shops at block D of the university on Wednesday include computer business centers, barbing salon and provision stores.

It is not yet known, the exact time the fire started but many believed that the incident possibly started at about 2am on Wednesday and was reportedly caused by an electrical fault.

A shop owner, Prince Hosea Mathias, said he got a call at about 4am on Wednesday from someone informing him that their shops were on fire.

He said he was informed that the fire was caused by an electrical fault.

“I was also told that all efforts to get the fire service to come proved abortive and by the time I got there later in the morning, I discovered that all the shops were burnt down”, Mathias narrated.

“I run a computer business center and IT solution. I lost everything I have in my shop, computers, printers, furniture, generator, stationeries, POS machines and a lot of things”, he added

The shop owner who graduated in 2016 from the Civil Engineering Department, said since then he has not been able to find a job, adding that as a result, he decided to start this business the business which has been sustaining him.

“I honestly don’t know how I feel about this incident and in fact, I have not even started thinking about it yet. I’m just trying to be strong because I don’t have any other work anywhere, this is all I have which has been destroyed by this fire”, Mathias said.

Another victim, Alfred Joseph, who owns a computer business center said he loses everything in the shop.

“I am not currently in Bauchi, I traveled to Abuja and a friend called me this morning to inform me of the incident. He told me that everything in my shop has been burnt down”, Joseph said.

He said all his properties including photocopiers, computers, laptop, printers, stationeries, generator and everything in the shop was all destroyed.

“Losing a business that I have taken my time to build from the scratch for over six years is actually very painful and heartbreaking”, Joseph said.