More than 20 shops in the building located at Iwebo lane behind Oba Market, Benin City were razed and property worth millions of naira lost over alleged refusal of tenants to pay their rents to the landlord.
Mr. Idemudia Obamwonyi is said to have set ablaze the house he inherited from his late father.
An eye witness said Idemudia stubbornly stopped those who made attempts to stop the fire insisting that it was better for him to get the house burnt since the tenants refused to pay their rents rather than allow them continue to live in the house.
It was said that he tactically allowed shop owners in the building to close for the day before setting the house ablaze.
An eyewitness who identified himself as Ifaluyi Obasogie expressed shock over the incident, narrating that ¨We saw people holding him and he was saying let the house burn, I don’t get any money from it.”
Justice Aigbekhan, one of the shop owner said they have paid their rent but Idemudia kept asking for money claiming that he wanted to perform his father’s burial.
“If they are having family issues, they should go and solve it. It is not for them to put us in trouble.”
Cynthia Obaseki, another shop owner, said she had lost goods worth N5 million to the inferno, vowing that she must recover her money through the court.
