Bauchi Gov Seeks Assistance as Fire Razes 700 Shops, Windstorm Destroys Communities

  • Buhari condoles with victims

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, has commiserated with the people Azare town over the fire incidence that razed over 700 shops in Azare market on Sunday, destroying yet-to-be quantified goods.

The governor who arrived Azare monday to assess the level of damage caused by the inferno, announced government’s readiness to provide immediate relief materials to the victims.

Going round the devastated market in company of the Emir of Katagum, Alhaji Umar Farouk, Abubakar who lamented that lack of access roads was responsible for the inability of fire-fighting vehicles to put down the inferno, said government would ensure that the market is modernised when reconstructing it.

The governor had earlier on Sunday commiserated with the people of Bauchi State over the deaths and destructions as a result of heavy downpour and windstorm.

The windstorm, which on Saturday evening cost the state many lives and hundreds of houses, schools and property worth millions of naira in many parts of the state.

In a broadcast to the state after personally carrying out an on the spot assessment of the communities affected by the windstorm in company of the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, Abubakar said: “As true believers, we should take the incident as an act of God and at the same time pray to Almighty Allah to give us the courage to bear the losses incurred.”

“The state had witnessed a heavy downpour which came along with heavy windstorm that caused serious destructions to homes, schools, farmlands, market places in many parts of the state, all of which came just after our fervent prayers to the Almighty Allah for rains,” he added.

He called on traditional, religious and community leaders in the state to join government in enlightening people on environmental protection techniques, particularly “The urgent need to stop cutting down trees, rather we should imbibe the culture of planting and protecting trees.”

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari last night offered his condolences to the government and people of the state, following the windstorm disasters, on the heels of which the market in Azare was razed by a mysterious fire.

In a message to the government and people of the state, through the Governor Abubakar, President Buhari said the government and people of Nigeria stand with the people of the state as they struggle to manage the fallout of the double tragedy.

President Buhari extends deepest sympathies to the victims and families of devastating windstorm and the fire incidents. The president says that the “Nigerians stand in solidarity with their fellow countrymen in this difficult time as they face the devastation with courage and fortitude.

“As a fellow human being, I understand your pains and inconveniences as you struggle to pick up the pieces and rebuild your lost houses, schools, markets and places of worship. This is not something you bargained and we are powerless against the fury of nature,” the president stressed

“On behalf of myself and my administration, my heart goes out to the victims of this disaster and I pray to God to replenish their losses,” Buhari added.

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