Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria, said the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificate of a mining company indicted for Tuesday’s explosion in the Bodija area of the State showed some foreign names as owners.
Gatekeepers News reports that Makinde said this while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday night.
He added the death toll in the unfortunate blast had risen to three as one more victim died in a hospital today.
Makinde said, “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 the state has identified an individual of interest that security agents should be inviting for questioning.
He said, “It is not anything that has to do with banditry and insurgency but illegal miners that stored explosives in a residential area.”
Makinde stated that the state government has no reason for cover-up and that the people of State should trust his administration.
The Governor 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.
According to him, those whose houses were destroyed had been provided temporary shelter in hotels in Bodija and the Agodi areas of the state capital.
Gatekeepers News reports that there was panic in Ibadan on Tuesday evening as loud explosion rocked the ancient city, with buildings collapsing due to terrific vibration.
The governor, who visited the scene on Tuesday night, stated that preliminary investigations by security agencies revealed that the blast was caused by illegal miners occupying one of the houses in Bodija.
He added that the explosion occurred at Adeyi Avenue, Bodija, but the vibration was felt in many parts of the city.
Makinde added that investigations are ongoing and all those found culpable for the act will be brought to book.
