Explosion in Ibadan
By Richard Otega Enyeh
The news emanating from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital is a sad one. Its about how a man who recently returned from the United Kingdom (UK) was identified as one of the casualties from Tuesday’s explosion.
A video circulating on social media showed an eyewitness, Ayode Jajaye, saying the UK returnee, who is the son of one of the landlords in the estate where the explosion occurred on Tuesday night, was among the two persons that were confirmed dead, while 77 others got injured in the devastating explosion.
Jajaye said: “Look at the guy that just died, he just came from the UK about a week ago. He’s a son to a landlord in this estate.
“My conclusion is that the government should investigate this situation. The casualties are too much; look at damages, we can’t just look away. There are so many collateral damages that have happened.”
Recall that the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, said the explosion was caused by illegal miners who stored explosive devices in one of the buildings in the Bodija area of the state capital.
Makinde, who shared the video of his visit to the scene of the explosion, disclosed that two persons were killed in the incident.
He added that 77 others were injured in the explosion.
Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government has set up an Emergency Situation Room for the explosion, led by Prof. Temitope Alonge, a former Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
The situation room is charged with the responsibility of coordinating the ongoing response to the incident.
It was further gathered that rescue operations were ongoing at the scene of the incident with officials of the State Emergency Management Agency (OSEMA) on ground.
The officials of the Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were also rendering humanitarian services.
