It was earlier reported that a section of the Supreme Court complex was on fire and that offices of three Justices have allegedly been burnt down.
The Director of Press and Information of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Dr Festus Akande, confirmed the fire.
“The fire has since been put out. There was no casualty,” Akande said.
The fire reportedly broke out due to an electric spark, Akande clarified that only one chamber of the building was affected.
He disclosed this on Arise News Channel’s ‘The Morning Show’ shortly after the fire was put out by the Court’s Fire Service Department.
According to Akande, the fire erupted between 7:30-8:00am “when staff were already in the office.”
“Further investigations are going on, so we can’t say categorically, but from what we found out, it was an electric fault,” Akande said about the cause of fire.
“They deployed the fire extinguishers installed on all the floors of the court. They were able to douse the fire even before the court heard from the Fire Service outside the Supreme Court. It didn’t take up to an hour before they put out the fire,” he reiterated.
Akande assured Nigerians that the fire incident will not affect any of the court’s proceedings.
“This incident occurred in a chamber that is equipped with computers and other equipment and also a functional library being used by any Justice that occupies such chamber. Only books, stationery and computer equipment were affected. Even the books are replaceable. We also have an e-library, so the books are still available in soft copies,” Akande stated.
