Fresh facts have emerged on the explosion which shook parts of Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, on Tuesday night.
Daily Trust had reported how some persons, including a UK returnee, lost their lives, while houses were reduced to rubble and vehicles destroyed in the tragic incident.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who ordered hospitals to treat people and hotels to accommodate the displaced, had earlier attributed the incident to illegal miners.
But speaking as a guest on Channels TV Politics Today, Makinde said the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificate of a mining company indicted for the explosion showed some foreign names as owners.
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He also said the death toll in the unfortunate blast had risen to three as one more victim died in a hospital.
According to the governor, the state had identified an individual of interest that security agents should be inviting for questioning.
“We recovered one individual alive today under the rubble. 60 of the 77 people hospitalized 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.
“It is not anything that has to do with banditry and insurgency but illegal miners that stored explosives in a residential area,” the governor said.
Earlier, Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, had urged Makinde and security agencies to unmask the illegal miners responsible for the devastating explosion.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sowore said, “Again, who is that miner? What is the miner’s name, and what do they mine in Oyo State? Is it gold, silver, cobalt, uranium, or what? A release should be done immediately to reveal the identity of the miner!
“Mining and using explosives has a procedure and rarely explodes without a trigger, especially dynamite. You have to ignite it automatedly or use fire. Was the building rigged with explosives? If so, why so?
“Is the governor of Oyo State aware of mining in the Agodi residential area? Is the governor aware of it, or is the state carrying out rock blasting in a residential area?
“The DSS is saddled with approving the use of explosives around Nigeria. What is their public position on what happened? At least citizens need a preliminary report from the DSS on this matter immediately.”
