Moboluwarin Ogunleye 

At around 9:30pm, 18th of October 2023, a fire erupted at the ground floor of the A block of Independence Hall. 

At around 9:30, an alarm was raised to a possible fire after people started perceiving the smell of burning rubbers and smoke started erupting from the main electricity distribution box of the block.

Eventually, it was discovered that there was a fire on the ground floor of A block. The fire continued for about 10 – 15 minutes, with residents trying to quench the fire with wet sand, while others were shouting to get the attention of the porters.

After the fire was put out, a call was put out to the works and maintenance, and afterwards, the light for Indy, Zik, Idia and Awo halls were put out.

Afterwards, the Hall Warden, Dr. Adejumo arrived with members from the UI fire service came, but this was rather late as the fire had already been put out.

Also trailing behind the fire service, people from maintenance came to assess the situation.

Speaking to an eye witness who identified himself as Dr Biggie, he said he was at the mosque, and thought the smell was from the cobblers.

“It started small, then the flame got bigger. Then people got closers to get wet sand to put out the fire” he exclaimed.  He added that upon the arrival of the AG, they were instructed to stop, given the risk of electrocution. 

The Administrator General of the hall Hon. Ogunremi Samuel corroborated this story, saying “This is not the first time we’ve been having issues of light, so with what happened today I believe they’ll come and change it. We thank them for the swiftness of action this night and thank God that there was no loss of life, that’s the main thing”.

At the time of this report,  the light had been restored to all the halls,  and some part of the affected block has light, even though burning smell still persists.