Tea seller accused of starting singer market fire absconds

A tea seller who was accused of igniting the fire that destroyed goods worth billions of naira at the Singer foodstuffs market in Kano has escaped. Our correspondent who visited the market, noticed that the spot where the tea shop once stood has already been taken over by other traders who have displayed their wares, […]

A tea seller who was accused of igniting the fire that destroyed goods worth billions of naira at the Singer foodstuffs market in Kano has escaped.
Our correspondent who visited the market, noticed that the spot where the tea shop once stood has already been taken over by other traders who have displayed their wares, erasing any sign of tea business in the area.
Speaking to Kano Chronicle, a trader of polythene shopping bags who used to share the same space with the commercial tea maker said that the man disappeared just a day after the fire occurred.
The trader, who simply identified himself as Dauda, said he was also a victim as he lost goods worth N2.8 million including a cash sum of N400,000 to the fire, which he insisted was started by the tea seller.
Recalling the incident, Dauda said the tea maker, who he identified as Mustapha Dandan from Niger Republic, was trying to make a fire for boiling the tea at 5:30am when he accidentally dropped a hot pot of charcoal which subsequently caught a tarpaulin sheet.
“When he saw that the fire was rapidly devouring the tarpaulin sheet which was used to cover some food stuffs, he poured the entire tea water from his pot on the fire but it refused to die down. At that point he decided to get water from vendors at the nearby Yankura Market, but could not find anybody and by then the fire has already intensified,” he narrated.
He also alleged that when Dandan returned and noticed that the fire had already caught the market buildings, he silently left the area and never came back.
The trader said however that the fire could have been extinguished in time if not for a gas cylinder belonging to a popcorn maker which exploded just moments after the fire started.
“You know the popcorn stall was situated just a few meters from the tea stall and it was not evacuated in time so it exploded and further increased the intensity of the fire,” he added.
“We are trying to get help from security agents in order to track him down and arrest him because it was an act of recklessness,” he said.
Meanwhile, our reporter noticed that commercial activities in the market have since resumed with the site of the fire filled up with new stock of goods.