Fire razes down FCT Minister of State’s private home in Abuja

Kangmwa GofwenFebruary 26, 20241 Mins read1.2k

The private residence of the Minister of State of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Mariya Mahmoud, was gutted by fire on Sunday.

According to a report by the PUNCH, the house in the Asokoro area of the FCT had its first floor entirely razed by the fire.

The report said the fire started at about 9:45 am. However, officers of the Fire Service arrived at the scene some minutes after receiving a “running call,” the Acting Director of the FCT Fire Service, Abiola Adebayo, confirmed the incident.

Adebayo says, “The fire was discovered a few minutes to 10, maybe around 9:45 am. We received a running call around 13 minutes after 10, so we followed the person who came to call us to the fire scene.

“All of them were on the ground floor. They did not discover the fire on time, and they didn’t call the Fire Service. It was a running call that came to us. From our findings, they say they called the Federal Fire Service, but they didn’t respond on time. That’s when the running call came to our office,” he said.

“On reaching there, we saw the first and upper floors completely engulfed in fire. So we could prevent the fire from spreading to the ground floor and the adjacent structures. No lives lost”, Adebayo added.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, although media aid to the minister, Austine Elemue, who also confirmed the incident, said the situation would be investigated.