By Peter Onyekachukwu 
By Peter Onyekachukwu
A midnight fire on Friday razed several furniture workshops and a cafeteria at the entrance gate leading to Haven Estate in Ugboroke Community, opposite NNPC Housing Estate, in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
The incident, which occurred around 12am, destroyed properties worth millions of naira as shop owners woke up to the sight of their investments reduced to ashes.
Though the actual cause of the fire remains unclear, eyewitnesses said it might have been triggered by a fallen electric wire from a nearby high-tension pole. Others, however, said they heard a loud spark before the flames erupted.
When our correspondent visited the scene at about 7am, the affected area was littered with charred remains of furniture, burnt machines, and collapsed wooden structures. Firefighters were seen making final checks to ensure no embers reignited the blaze.
It was gathered that firefighters, assisted by some Hausa youths and residents, battled through the night to stop the fire from spreading to other nearby shops and residential buildings.
One of the victims, Mr. Tunde Musa, whose furniture workshop was completely destroyed, said he was called shortly after midnight that his shop was on fire.
“I don’t really know what happened,” he said. “They called me around after 12am that fire was burning, but when I got here, everything had already gone. We saw the firefighters, but I cannot explain how I feel right now.”
Musa appealed to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and the Uvwie Local Government Council to assist him and other affected traders so they could restart their businesses.
Another shop owner, Mr. Kasim Abdurazaq, said his workshop and all customers’ properties were lost to the fire. “When I got here at about 12am, everything was already burnt. Nothing was salvaged not even my personal belongings. I don’t know what to tell my customers now,” he said.
Abdurazaq, who looked devastated, pleaded for government intervention, adding that the loss had left him without a source of livelihood.
As of the time of filing this report, scavengers were seen picking through the rubble while shop owners gathered in groups, counting their losses and reflecting on how to rebuild their means of survival.