On Saturday properties worth over N40 million has been destroyed by fire following a mysterious fire that completely razed down the Ebonyi State Magistrate’s Court 1 at the Ebonyi State Judicial Headquarters opposite Old Government House Abakaliki.
Speaking with newsmen, the chief registrar of the State High Court Abakaliki, Nnenna Onuoha said that rough estimate of the property destroyed stands at about N40 million.
Onuoha said that most of the exhibits in the court were gutted by fire adding that the ugly incident happened over the weekend.
“On the early hours of June 3rd, we got calls from our people living at the magistrate quarters that our court has been gutted by fire.
“We rushed to the court and saw that the court was truly razed by fire. We started asking what could be the cause of the incident. They told us that the fire was from the transformer, and they said the fire came out from the transformer.
“Rescuers called Ebonyi State Fire Service and they came and help us to quench the fire. As you can see, the building was completely gutted by fire. The inferno razed the Magistrate Court 1 completely with exhibits and other vital documents burnt to ashes,” she said.
It was gathered that properties of law offenders confiscated by the court which were parked inside the court, were also burnt by the fire.
A magistrate who spoke to newsmen on grounds of anonymity said he and some staff of the State High Court who are living around the magistrate court premises, were woken up from sleep by the fire.
“We were woken up by the inferno. We are living close to the court premises. We I came there, we started using our fire extinguishers to quench the fire. I shot one of the extinguishers and the fire exploded and got more serious.
“By this time, our security men had run away. We contacted the State Fire Service and they came and helped us to quench the fire. Before their arrival, we have exhausted our fire extinguishers,” the magistrate said.
