Police nab 100 persons for looting during Kano market fire
Kano Govt. sets up 8-man emergency committee
Assembly pledges support for more fire service stations in markets
No fewer than 100 suspected looters were arrested by security agents during fire outbreak which gutted the famous Sabon Gari market in Kano on Saturday. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Muhammad Katsina, disclosed this when Governor Abdullahi Ganduje visited the market on Sunday. He said the suspects were apprehended by security personnel deployed to the market to ensure security of lives and property following the fire outbreak.
Katsina said the suspects were arrested in different locations of the market while trying escape with their loots. He said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was completed. “The suspects are presently in our custody and as soon as investigation was concluded, they will be charged to court, “Katsina said. In his remarks, the governor said the state government had taken measures aimed at preventing future occurrence. Ganduje commiserated with the victims of the disaster and commended security personnel for ensuring adequate security during the incident. He also thanked various private companies who supported the state Fire Service in putting out the inferno.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Government has inaugurated an eight-man emergency advisory committee on the relocation of traders affected by Saturday’s inferno at Sabon Gari Market. This is contained in a statement signed by Halilu Dantiye, the Director of Press to Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, on Sunday in Kano. Ganduje, who inaugurated the committee on Saturday, said it had five days to advise the government on interim measures to relocate the affected traders. According to the statement, the committee is to sensitise the traders on how government plans to sanitise the market to prevent future occurrence. It indicated that governor commended security agencies in the state for maintaining law and order during the incident.
It added that Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Ali Bagadaza, promised to discharge their duties effectively. The statement said that the eight man committee has Alhaji Abdulkadir Bala as Secretary. In a related development, the Kano State House of Assembly has pledged to work closely with the State Government to establish fire service departments in all major markets in the state. The Speaker, Kano State State House of Assembly, Alhaji Kabiru Rurum, made the pledge in a statement signed by the Director Press of the Assembly, Alhaji Musa Bichi, in Kano on Sunday.
The statement said the Speaker, while commiserating with the traders and people of the state over recent fire outbreak, decried rampant fire incidents recorded in the state. The statement enjoined the affected traders of Sabon Gari Market and other markets to take the incident as an act of God. He assured them that the Assembly and the state government will ensure that those affected were assisted to reduce their hardship. It called on the people of the state to intensify prayers for God’s intervention over fire that had occurred in the state in recent times.
