Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has given further details on the explosion that occurred in Ibadan, the state capital on Tuesday.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday night, Makinde told journalists that an investigation into the Tuesday explosion revealed the identity of the owners of the company where the explosion took place.
According to him, information on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificate of a mining company indicted for the explosion in the Bodija area of Oyo State showed some foreign names as owners.
The governor also said the death toll in the unfortunate blast had risen to three as one more victim died at a hospital today.
“We recovered one individual alive today (Wednesday) under the rubble. 60 of the 77 people hospitalised have been discharged,” the governor said.
“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,” he said.
Makinde stated that the state has identified an individual of interest whom security agents should invite for questioning.
The governor clarified that this individual was not involved in banditry or insurgency but rather in illegal mining activities where explosives were stored in a residential area.
He emphasized that the state government had no intention of covering up any information and urged the people of the state to trust his administration.
Makinde also mentioned his plans to seek presidential approval for miners to store explosives with the military, and he intends to sign an executive order in the coming days to facilitate this.
Additionally, the governor informed that those whose houses were destroyed have been provided temporary shelter in hotels located in Bodija and the Agodi areas of the state capital.
