Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has said records at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) have revealed the real owners of the explosives responsible for the Tuesday night massive explosion in the Bodija area of Ibadan, the state capital.
He said the names on the records showed some foreign nationals as owners of the mining firm responsible for the explosives.
Also yesterday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu expressed sadness over the devastating explosion that occurred on Tuesday night in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
“It is worrisome that the cause of the blast is being attributed to the activities of illegal miners. Those behind the inexcusable and reckless behaviour that has created the conditions for the sad incident to occur must be fished out and punished,” the president said in a statement by his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale.
Makinde, who was a guest on Channels Television’s political and current affairs programme, “Politics Today” last night, monitored by LEADERSHIP in Abuja said the death toll in the unfortunate blast had risen to three as one more victim died in an undisclosed hospital.
“We are trying to uncover the identities of the people. We’ve done a few fact-finding on the company involved and yes, there are indeed some foreign names on the CAC documents of the company involved but these are still early days. We don’t have anything to cover,” the governor said.
Makinde said the state has identified an individual of interest that security agents would be inviting for questioning.
“It is not anything that has to do with banditry and insurgency but illegal miners that stored explosives in a residential area,” Governor Makinde reiterated.
He said the state government has no reason for cover-up and that the people of the state should trust his administration.
Makinde said he would seek presidential approval for miners to store explosives with the military, and that he would sign an Executive Order in the coming days to that effect.
The governor said those whose houses were destroyed had been provided with temporary shelter in hotels in Bodija and in the Agodi areas of the state capital.
On the latest casualty figure, he said: “We recovered one individual alive today (Wednesday) under the rubble. 60 of the 77 people hospitalised have been discharged.”
Tinubu commiserated with the government and people of Oyo State and called on all concerned agencies of government to unravel the circumstances that led to the tragedy with alacrity.
The president directs the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to work with the Oyo State Government to offer immediate and comprehensive relief to the victims.
