The Osogbo Artist village located at Osun groove was on Thursday razed to ashes.
The fire was said to have broken out in the lone building late at night leading to loss of property close to three hundred million naira.
The victim artists said they suspected foul play based as a result of what was left by the fire incident.
They alleged a case of theft by the perpetrators before setting the building on fire.
They said, were it to be only fire outbreak, there could have been remnants of some artworks and other items, suggesting that the incident could be a deliberate acts of some people who intentionally set the place ablaze to cover up after looting.
The acting curator, Osogbo Artists Village, Lana Abiodun described the incident as monumental loss saying “what was lost to the fire outbreak cannot be regain”.
He listed items lost to the inferno to include artifacts, bales of designed and yet- to-be designed clothing materials, wood and oil paintings, Adire, Ndigo dye and batik, sculpture, carvings, among other artworks.
According to one of the artists, Villager Ganiyu Ibikunle “the implication of the fire outbreak is huge because most of the artist rely on this work for source of income. Now they are left with nothing”.
“Another implication is that we have some students of technical colleges who are undergoing Industrial Training here, with what happened we must find a way for them to be able to continue”
Coordinator of the Artist Village, Femi Ogundipe like other artists appealed to both the state and federal governments to come to their aids to bring back the village to life.
