Police call for calm amid explosion in Maitama

Police call for calm amid explosion in Maitama

• Wike orders LGs to form vigilance groups against kidnapping

Heavy explosion, yesterday, rocked Maitama, the heart of Abuja, sending panic across the city.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has, however, urged citizens not to panic as blast was due to an over-heated refuse bin.

Spokesperson for the command, Josephine Adeh, said: “The FCT Police Command, hereby, wishes to update the public on an alleged explosion on January 24, 2024, about 11.45p.m., near a refuse dump outside the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) premises in Maitama, Abuja.

“A rapid response team and members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit was deployed to assess the situation, and preliminary findings indicate than an overheated metal refuse container activated under intense heat, exploded, \causing injury to two of the refuse evacuators, who are receiving medical attention in Maitama General Hospital.”

Consequently, the command urged members of the public to refrain from using metal refuse bins. “Instead, we recommend the use of plastic or rubber containers for waste disposal, as they pose a reduced risk of incidents related to overheated metal refuse container,” she added.

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FOLLOWING incessant kidnap incidents in the FCT, the Minister, Nyesom Wike, has ordered vigilance teams to be established in the six area councils of the territory.

He also ordered members of such groups to be subjected to thorough profiling.

At a strategic security meeting with members of the FCT Council of Chiefs and council chairmen, yesterday, Wike said his administration would continue to work with the traditional rulers in ensuring fool-proof security for the nation’s capital.

He said: “We have asked all the area councils to set up vigilance teams, and we believe that those vigilance teams won’t be the ones perpetrating crimes. Therefore, they must be profiled, so that they are known. Who are they? Are they from our communities? So that we won’t say we want to solve a problem and then create another. They (chairmen) will have to do that with you (traditional rulers).

“We have told the police and other security agencies to itemise all their needs, and we are going to meet them, so that our people can sleep comfortably.”

Responding, the Chairman, FCT Council of Chiefs, Ona of Abaji, Adamu Yunusa, who said the minister was not new to governance or to Abuja, expressed optimism in his ability to turn around the fortunes of the territory.

Police call for calm amid explosion in Maitama