Fire Guts Magistrate’s Court, Edo TV Studio

The Magistrate’s Court in Okada, Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State, has been razed by an early morning fire.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 3am on Monday, few days after three other fire disasters were recorded on Mission road, First East Circular and Eyaen in Benin, the state capital. 
It was also learnt that documents within the court were destroyed by the fire, which also damaged other valuable equipment belonging to the court.
Although the cause of the fire has not been ascertained, the Police Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Osifo, said the command received a distress call from security men in the area.
Osifo also said that while the police had visited the scene of the incident as part of the investigation, no arrests had so far been made.
“The Magistrate Court there got burnt. So, all the documents got burnt. Investigation is still on to find out the course of the fire.
“The court was razed. Actually, there is a High Court there, but it was the Magistrate’s Court that got burnt,” Osifo noted.

He added, “No arrest; security men there reported the case and the police went there, took photographs and we are trying the find out the cause of the fire.”
In a related development, transmission was temporarily disrupted at the Edo State Broadcasting Service on Monday when a section of its studio was razed by fire.
It was also learnt that the inferno destroyed valuable broadcast facilities belonging to the station.
The state Head of Service, Mrs. Gladys Idahor, and the Chairman of the board, Mr. Joseph Omorotionmwan, who visited the scene to ascertain the level of damage, expressed gratitude to the staff of the station, who averted a major disaster.

“The first impression I had when I was called this (Monday) morning was that the entire studio was down. But from what I have seen, I want to commend the staff of EBS and the fire brigade who, I understand, came on time to salvage the situation,” she said.

December 30, 2015