3rd April, 2011
The eighth floor office of the Africa Independent Television, AIT in Jos, Plateau State Sunday was razed down by fire.
Witnesses told P.M.News that the fire which started between 9.30am and 10am this morning only affected the eighth floor of the building, where AIT offices are located.
According to them, it took a quick intervention of the fire fighters to contain the spread of the fire. The “mysterious†fire as one of the engineering staff described it,did not only consume all the three transmitters, it also burnt down all the new cameras and equipment procured to cover the elections .
The General Manager of AIT Jos, Okolieugaja Chukwudi, who was at the premises trying to take inventory of the carcass of the burnt equipment, said the immediate cause of the fire is yet unknown.
But preliminary investigations showed that it could be due to electrical fault. But he said the police will help to conduct proper investigation to unravel the remote and immediate cause of the Sunday fire. He however, didn’t rule out possibility of sabotage when he asked rhetorically, “why AIT at this crucial period of elections?â€
Chukwudi roughly put the cost of damaged equipment at over ninety million naira. “It is unfortunate that this has happened to us during this periodâ€, Chukwudi lamented.
By Femi Adi/ jos