A fire in Ebonyi State destroyed a magistrate’s court building and destroyed properties worth millions of naira. According to sources, the fire, which broke out early on Monday, was caused by a transformer.
According to information obtained by The Guardian, the fire, which damaged seized vehicles parked on the court grounds, originated from a structure connected to the office of the Magistrate Court Registrar.
Ebonyi Magistrate’s Court
Nnenna Onuoha, the Chief Registrar of the state’s high court, confirmed the event and put the cost of the damaged goods at roughly N40 million. In the early hours of June 3, she stated: “We received calls from residents in the magistrate‘s quarters informing us that our court had been destroyed by fire.
The court was actually on fire when we raced outside. When we inquired about the cause, we learned that the transformer was where the fire started. Rescuers from the Ebonyi State Fire Service eventually extinguished the fire. The building was completely destroyed, as you can see.
- Ebonyi State fire destroys magistrate’s court, millions of naira.
- Chief Registrar confirms court destroyed by fire, costing N40 million.
- Magistrate claims fire awakened him and the staff.
A magistrate who showed reporters around the burned-out structure claimed that the fire awakened him and some staff members who lived nearby the Magistrate Court’s premises.
“The inferno awakened us. We are a short distance from the courthouse. We arrived and immediately began putting out the fire with our fire extinguishers. As a result of my shooting at one of the extinguishers, the fire erupted and became more dangerous.
By this point, our security personnel had fled. We called the state fire department, and they responded and came to assist us in putting out the fire. We’ve used up all of our fire extinguishers before they get here,” he said.
