Fire guts Lagos office of EFCC

Written by Adelowo Oladipo and Lanre Adewole


There was panic, on Tuesday, at the Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State, when the  office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was gutted by fire in the early hours of the day.

The fire gutted four offices of the Legal Department of the anti-graft agency, leaving important documents and computers sets destroyed.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that no life was lost to the incident, while the value of property destroyed by the fire could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

Insider sources at the EFCC said a thick smoke was noticed billowing out of some offices around 10.45 a.m, before it later turned into flame, adding that the cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained.

But an unconfirmed report said it might not be unconnected with faulty electrical installations within the premises of the one-storey building which housed the office.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that some employees of the commission, who were at the premises at the time of the incident, scampered for safety, as they watched  helplessly as the fire raged.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the scene of the incident around 12.30 p.m, fire fighters were seen at the scene, trying to curtail the fire so that it did not spread to adjoining offices.

Meanwhile, the commission has launched a probe into the fire incident in its Lagos office.

Though the Lagos spokesperson of the agency, Mr Wilson Uwuajaren, dismissed any foul play in connection with the incident, a statement issued in Abuja by the spokesperson of the commission, Mr Femi Babafemi, said the chairman of the agency, Mrs Farida Waziri, had ordered a probe into the incident.

The statement assured the public that case files of the commission were safe and secure.

Source: www.tribune.com.ng