Soldiers deployed to the scene of a major market fire in Lagos on Thursday turned their aggression towards journalists, threatening physical assault and seizing equipment, as the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (LSFRS) battled the inferno.
Journalists Threatened and Equipment Confiscated
While covering the fire that engulfed a section of the Arena Market in Bolade, Oshodi, reporters from The Guardian and Punch newspapers faced direct threats from soldiers. An officer of the Nigerian Army, identified as Gaktong G. J., armed with a cane, explicitly threatened to flog the journalists on duty. He declared that nobody had invited the press and that he had the right to do anything he wished.
When reporters tried to reason with him, he called in other soldiers to forcibly remove them from the area. In a brazen act, the soldiers seized the camera of an African Independent Television (AIT) crew. Officer Gaktong boasted about having sent away crews from other major broadcasters, including TVC and NTA, stating, "We don’t know what is called journalist here. You better leave," while pointing his cane at the reporters.
Details of the Arena Market Inferno
The fire outbreak occurred on Thursday, January 1, 2026, at the Arena Market. It affected a section consisting of five 40-foot container shops arranged in two rows, totaling about 20 shops. The area is primarily used for storing and selling bales of clothing materials, which fueled the rapid spread of the flames.
Thanks to the concerted efforts of fire crews from the Bolade, Ilupeju, Ikeja, and Alausa fire stations, the fire was prevented from spreading beyond the second row of containers. The Controller-General of the LSFRS, Margaret Adeseye, confirmed that the fire had been successfully extinguished.
Aftermath and Trader Accounts
While the LSFRS has been unable to determine the official cause of the fire, as market management refused to comment, traders at the scene painted a grim picture of the losses. One anonymous trader revealed that goods and money worth millions of Naira were destroyed, comparing the devastation to the famous Lagos Island fire but noting thankfully that no lives were lost.
Another eyewitness blamed the fire's intensity on the highly flammable clothing materials and a critical lack of infrastructure. "Unfortunately, there was no water in the Arena Market, and it contributed to the spread of the fire," the trader said. In a particularly tragic case, a shop owner who had just offloaded new stock hours before the incident lost everything, including money kept inside the shop.
This fire incident comes just eight days after a train collision in the same Arena area of Oshodi, from which a driver and others had narrowly escaped, highlighting a concerning series of emergencies in the locality.
