S’West NNPP leader Olopoeyan seeks prosecution of those behind Ibadan explosion

Olusesan Laoye

Alhaji Abdul-Rasheed Adebisi Aremu Olopoeyan, the South West leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), has  called on the Police and the Oyo State government  to fish out the owner of the  building where mining  explosives  which caused the explosion that rocked the entire city of Ibadan on Tuesday, were stored.

Olopoeyan  who visited the scene   of the explosion which devastated  many buildings  at Adeyi axis of Old Bodija Housing Estate in Ibadan the Oyo State capital to see  the level of the damage caused by the explosives sympathized with the victims of the incident and praised Governor Seyi Makinde  for his swift  action on the incident.

Alhaji Olopoeyan was accompanied to the site of the explosion by his younger brother, Kunle Funmilayo whose property ‘Harrison Inn’ situated very close to the site of the incident was also damaged, due to the impact of the explosion.

The NNPP leader who at the scene, expressed  shock and disbelief with the level of the damage, the death toll and the long list of injured persons, said the perpetrators  should be brought to book and made to pay for all the damages discovered.

He said, “This is too much, we only see this nature of damage in war zones. This is absolutely too much for us in Ibadan, whoever that is behind this incident must no go without facing adequate punishment, such person must face the full wrath of the law, he must no go unpunished.

“Government must ensure that he faces the consequences for his actions. Many houses have gone, lives have been reportedly lost. I even heard that over 77 people were injured. how can someone be keeping and pilling explosives in an environment like this for God’s sake? This matter must be investigated. This is so sad, this is just too much, the damage is huge.”

According to him, “‘the this is a residential area, and the residents of this estate have been living peacefully without any problems since. Gow can someone, because of his personal interest, affect the lives of others? He must be investigated and be  made to face the consequences.”

While speaking on the state government’s efforts, Olopoeyan said, “What else do you want governor Makinde to do? He has set up Emergency Operations Center for the victims. He has provided temporary accomodations for them, he has equally accepted to pay the medical bills of the injured victims. He was here at the midnight of the incident and he’s here now this afternoon and I also gathered that he has paid a visit to the victims in the hospitals and in their various temporary accomodations provided by the state government, infact his actions over the matter has demonstrated that he’s a kind and caring governor, he’s indeed a good leader.

“I sympathise with the the state government over this sad occurrence, I equally sympathise with entire people and residents of Ibadan metropolis. I also sympathise with the family of the victims. We must all continue to remember them in our prayers because I don’t know where exactly they’re going to start. This is a situation where a landlord has suddenly become a homeless person, it is so sad.

“I urge the federal government to expedite action on whatever support they want to render for the victims because most of them who are landlords are now homeless. As you can see, the level of damaged is too much, federal government should please come to our support over this matter, this is a national disaster, this disaster is beyond the power of Oyo state government, we need help, even from international NGOs.” Olopoeyan said.

“Though I can see the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on ground with his team, I’m very optimistic that they will feed Mr President reports of this incident and I’m of high hope that our President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu will help th