Festus Akande, the Spokesman of the Supreme Court of Nigeria said the fire outbreak that occurred in the court’s building on Monday morning affected only one chamber of the building.
Speaking on Arise News after the incident,Akande said contrary to reports in the social media that the fire gutted the entire building of the Apex court, only a section of the court was razed.
According to him, the affected chamber had a functional library and computers and explained that the staff raced to the scene of the fire and put it out.
But the FCT police said that two chambers of two justices were affected. Spokesperson of the Command, Josephine Adeh who confirmed the incident to journalists said that the police and fire fighters were on ground to put out the fire.
Although, the cause of the fire had not been ascertained at the time of filing the report, Adeh said investigation is ongoing yet some Nigerians have given different interpretations to it.
Joshua, a street hawker around the Three Arms Zone in the Federal Capital Territory FCT told our reporter that he sensed an act of sabotage .
He said ” It’s difficult to say what really caused the fire but I think bad people who are fed up with some decisions of courts may have caused it.
And, you know that political parties are taking their cases to the Supreme Court after failing to get victory at the Court of Appeal so you know, anything could have caused it.
However,Nonso,an Electrical Engineer,who spoke to current matters said the cause of the fire could be electrical. It may be due to fuse problems,bad connection and others.
” I suspect an electrical fault. I don’t think it’s an act of sabotage. Bad connection of fuses that protects the circuit can trigger fire”
Current matters reports that it is the first time an incident of fire would occur at the Supreme Court.
