From HAFSAT ADEBAYO, Bauchi
One of the houses belonging to renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Usman Dahiru Bauchi, in Bauchi metropolis, was gutted by fire on Tuesday evening, though, no life was lost in the inferno.
It was gathered that fire which gutted the house, located at Makera in the Bauchi State capital, started at about5.00pm when Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) brought back electricity to the area.
The fire, according to an eyewitness’s account, started from a room occupied by a woman, who was said to have gone out as at the time the fire started.
The witness, who simply identified himself as Musa, narrated that efforts made to prevent the fire from spreading from the room to other rooms on the first floor of the one storey building were futile as the fire gutted other rooms on the floor. The fire, however, did not spread to the ground floor and the mosque in the premises.
One of the occupants of the affected rooms was heard lamenting his losses, saying that he lost a fortune in the fire incidence.
The house, it was gathered, is being occupied by one of the sons of the Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi and other relatives.
Confirming the incident in a statement, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Bauchi State Police Command, DSP Haruna Mohammed, stated that the entire house got burnt, adding that the Police rushed to the scene to prevent hoodlums from taking advantage of the incident to loot.
He added that the situation was brought under control and no life was lost in the incident, saying that the value of property destroyed was yet to be ascertained.
Mohammed stated that Investigation is ongoing to ascertain actual cause of the fire.