Fire Razes David Mark's House In Benue

The Otukpo, Benue State residence of a former President of the Senate, David Mark, was on Thursday gutted by fire.

The house is located in the GRA area of the town.

The fire, according to workers in the compound, started from a nearby bush near the fence of the guest house and burnt two ambulances and over 15 motorcycles to ashes.

Some of the workers, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity, said the fire spread so fast and ignited some empty cartons in which some of the motorcycles were assembled.

They were said to have made frantic efforts to extinguish the fire but to no avail.

According to one of the workers, it was after desperate efforts to extinguish the fire failed that the Benue State Fire Service’s station in Otukpo was contacted.

“We made efforts to quench the fire but the more we tried, the more it continued to spread. It was when we noticed that we could not stop it that we called the fire service so that the inferno would not consume the guest house,” the worker said.

Efforts to get reactions from Mark’s family members proved abortive as none of them was willing to talk.

The former Senate President was said to be out of town as of the time the incident occurred.

One of his aides, Adakoke Elijah, who confirmed the incident, stated, “Earlier this morning (Thursday), a fire incident was reported in the Otukpo residence of the former Senate President, Dr David Mark.

“The cause of the incident has yet to be ascertained but some properties, including 15 motorcycles and two vehicles, were burnt.

“The arrival of fire service personnel prevented the inferno from spreading to the entire building.

“The fire has since been extinguished. No life was lost.”