The death toll in the explosion that occurred in Ibadan, Oyo state on January 16 has now reached five people.
Initially, two deaths were reported on Tuesday, with an additional victim passing away in a hospital on Wednesday.
However, on Thursday, it was announced that two more bodies have been recovered.
The Special Adviser on Security Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde, Fatai Owoseni,, provided this update during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“Rescue operation is still ongoing. As of yesterday, we had three casualties but this morning, just about 30 minutes ago, I got information from the security operatives supporting the medical team that two more dead bodies were recovered this morning,” he said.
He also emphasized that the government is committed to ensuring that those responsible for the incident are brought to justice, whether they were directly or indirectly involved.
The government is working closely with security agencies to gather all relevant information and prevent any culprits from evading accountability.
This effort aims to foster trust in the government and promote transparency.
Owoseni said: “A lot of conversations have been going on, a lot of interfacing with the people so that they will see transparency in what the government is doing.
“The security agencies, especially the police, the DSS being supported by the Nigerian Army team EOD Unit as well are putting the bits and pieces of information together to ensure that discreet information is done towards prosecution to ensure that whoever, either directly, remotely connected with that incident are brought to justice.”
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificate of a mining company indicted for Tuesday’s explosion in the Bodija area of Oyo State showed some foreign names as owners, Governor Makinde said.
He also said of the 77 people hospitalised, 60 injured victims have been discharged as the state government recovered one victim from the scene of the explosion.
“We recovered one individual alive today (Wednesday) under the rubble. 60 of the 77 people hospitalised have been discharged.“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 should be inviting for questioning., adding that the state government has no reason for the cover-up.
The governor said preliminary investigations by security agencies revealed that the blast was caused by illegal miners occupying one of the houses in Bodija, adding that the explosion occurred at Adeyi Avenue, Bodija. However, it was heard and felt in many parts of the city.
He said, “Preliminary investigations by the security agencies revealed that illegal miners occupying one of the houses in Bodija had stored explosive devices there which caused the blast. The investigations are ongoing. All those found culpable for this will be brought to book.
“We have already deployed first responders and all relevant agencies within Oyo State to carry out comprehensive search and rescue operations. These operations will continue throughout the night.”
