*52 houses, 39 vehicles destroyed
*Death toll rises
Occupants of a house located off Dejo Avenue in Adeyi Estate, Bodija Housing Ibadan, Oyo State, where an explosion occurred on Tuesday night fled the two-storey building before the disastrous incident occurred, Scudnews has exclusively learned.
Mr. Camara Momodu, a foreign national suspected to be involved in illegal mining, his family and staff were said to be living in the building where dynamites were also stored before the blast.
Apparently conscious of the danger posed by the explosives stored in the apartment, Momodu’s family comprising his wives and children as well as some staff evacuated the building following a fire outbreak suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault some minutes before the explosion, sources privy to developments surrounding the incident told Scudnews on Wednesday.
This was even as residents of houses in the neighbourhood who noticed that fire had engulfed the building thronged to the scene in their numbers in a bid to render help, oblivious that the occupants had fled and there were explosives stored in the premises, it was further learned.
However, Momodu, suspected to be a Malian but whose nationality could not be immediately confirmed as of the time of filing this report, was said to have travelled prior to the day of incident. Scudnews was unable to ascertain whether he was on a local or foreign trip.
The police, according to sources, are on the trail of one of his wives, a Nigerian, in search of clues as investigation into the deadly explosion intensified.
Meantime, the casualty has risen to three as search and rescue operations continued, while 39 vehicles and 52 damaged houses have been recorded, including a building owned by a former deputy governor of Oyo State, Iyiola Oladokun.
Scudnews sources hinted that investigators are having a herculean task obtaining requisite information especially from residents of the area as most them sustained varying degrees of injury and had been hospitalized.
According to a source, “It is a difficult thing getting people to give us vital clues that will assist us in our investigation. We could not even see the building where the blast occurred because it was a massive and everything had turned to rubbles, but we learned it was a two-storey building. It was fragments of the building and other items that were flying all over most parts of Ibadan on Tuesday night when the incident occurred”.
President Bola Tinubu had directed that all those responsible for the devastating explosion which has claimed three lives and injured over 80 persons be brought to book.
While expressing sadness over the incident, Tinubu said, “It is worrisome that the cause of the blast is being attributed to the activities of illegal miners. Those behind the inexcusable and reckless behaviour that has created the conditions for the sad incident to occur must be fished out and punished”.
Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, said in a statement on Wednesday, that President Tinubu commiserated with the government and people of Oyo State and called on all concerned agencies of government to unravel the circumstces that led to the tragedy with alacrity.
He also directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to work with the Oyo State Government to offer immediate and comprehensive relief to the victims.
