metro

Five dead, 15 vehicles destroyed as phone call triggers Lagos gas explosion

Published

3 years ago

November 17, 2021

Five persons were confirmed dead on Tuesday in a gas explosion on Ojekunle Street, off Ladipo Street, in the Mushin area of Lagos State.

No fewer than 15 vehicles were also destroyed by the explosion, which damaged many houses in the area.

One of our correspondents, who visited the scene, observed that the site was a mishmash of shattered blocks, wood, iron, cars, and hundreds of gas cylinders.

The workshop where the explosion occurred housed mechanics, panel beaters, gas retailers and other traders.

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Eyewitnesses, who spoke to PUNCH Metro, said the incident happened when a woman, identified as Mama Emma, was frying puff-puff around 7.30am.

Our correspondents learnt that around the same time, a gas retailer, identified as Sodiq, was dispensing gas from a cylinder to another for a customer. Sodiq usually sold gas to panel beaters in the workshop.

Witnesses said while dispensing the gas, his customer received a call, which triggered the explosion.

Sodiq, the customer, Mama Emma and two others were burnt to death, as their remains were bagged and handed over to their families for burial.

Many traders, who wept at the scene, described the gas retailer as a hard-working man who did not deserve to die in such a cruel manner.

Over 15 vehicles on the premises were shattered by the blast.

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PUNCH Metro counted at least 15 vehicles of different brands whose engines were

destroyed by the explosion.

Some of the vehicles were buried in the rubble caused by the blast, as sheds used by mechanics were uprooted and fell flat on the shattered vehicles.

A mechanic whose workshop was on the site, Tajudeen Olorunwa, told PUNCH Metro that his car, a Toyota Highlander, and four others belonging to his customers, were affected.

Olorunwa said he had never experienced such losses in his 24 years at the workshop.

Speaking in Yoruba, he said, “I thank God for the preservation of my life. I had a vehicle in my workshop when the explosion happened and four others belonging to my customers. The vehicles were for repairs, but I have informed their owners and they have asked me to send photos of the damage.”

He noted that one of his apprentices was severely injured and had been rushed to a nearby hospital.

Another mechanic, who identified himself only as Ahmed, said he was at the workshop around 7am shortly before the blast.

He said, “I was here sleeping in one of the vehicles when one of us was hit by a motorcycle. I and another apprentice rushed the victim to a nearby hospital and on our return, we saw that the explosion had occurred.

“I could have been burnt too if I didn’t rush the victim to the hospital. I used to sleep in one of the cars now destroyed by the blast. I will thank God forever for creating a way for my escape.”

An eyewitness, Juliet Nwokedi, who worked opposite the scene of the incident, said the body of the gas retailer was shattered by the explosion.

Another eyewitness, Pastor Micheal Ogunremi, who claimed to live close to the scene of the incident, said the workshop was once shut by the state government, but the lock was broken.

The South-West Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, said 121 cylinders were recovered from the scene.

He said, “An LPG domestic retailing centre located on Ojekunle Street, Ladipo Spare Part Market, exploded and resulted in casualties. Four adults – three males and one female – were recovered dead, while a 10-year-old boy rescued alive died before getting to the hospital.

“The scene was said to have been sealed because the side of the street was dedicated as a mechanical village on which no other user was allowed. But after some time, the seal and lock were removed before the incident occurred.”

The Director-General of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu, while speaking at the scene of the incident, said a panel would be set up to investigate the cause of the incident.

He said, “After a rigorous and aggressive response, we put out the fire after one hour and we were able to bring out 10 injured persons, who were treated on the spot and discharged. But it is pathetic that we recovered five bodies, four males and one female. Recovery is ongoing and we are going to get to the root of the matter.”

The Chairman of the Mushin LGA, Emmanuel Bamgboye, who also visited the scene, said the council would set up a committee to investigate the incident.

The state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, urged residents to stop receiving calls around gas depots.

He said, “This is a disaster that is completely avoidable; this is human negligence because what we heard was that the thing blew up when someone was trying to refill a gas cylinder while making a call.”

Also, an official of the Department of Petroleum Resources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “We gathered that a lady was frying early in the morning and that prompted the explosion in the gas depot.

“But what we observed was that the cylinders stacked there were not in tandem with what we use in the industry.”

Punch

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

Published

6 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.

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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).

The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.

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metro

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

Published

6 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.

“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.

Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.

Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.

The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.

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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.

Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.

Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.

There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.

FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.

A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.

The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.

Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

metro

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

Published

6 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

Yahaya Bello

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.

The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.

“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.

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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.

Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.

The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.

After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.

“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.

Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.

The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.