Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A grocery and household supermarket, believed to be owned by the wife of the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, at Oshuntokun Junction, Bodija, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Grandex Stores, was on Sunday partially razed by fire.
The fire reportedly started from the back office and gradually spread to the main stores, before the arrival of fire brigades that eventually extinguished the inferno.
Men of Oyo State Fire Service and Federal Fire Service were said to have jointly put out the fire. The efforts to put out the fire from the front was said to have been unfruitful, until a way was found to the back of the supermarket to quench the raging fire.
It was gathered that some people that went to read newspapers at the popular Osuntokun Junction were also said to have rallied round to fetch water and bring fire extinguishers to quench the fire before the arrival of fire fighters.
The team leader of the Federal Fire Service, who preferred anonymity attributed the cause of the inferno to electrical sparks and over-loading of electrical sockets in the supermarket.
But Mrs. Florence Ajimobi later arrived at the scene and she was joined by some of her aides to evacuate some goods from the stores, while some stern-looking officers of Operation Burst, a joint security outfit of the state, were on ground to prevent looting.