President Tinubu has said those behind what he called “The inexcusable and reckless behaviour” that led to the devastating explosion that occurred on Tuesday night in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital must be fished out and punished.
The president, in a statement yesterday by his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, expressed sadness over the explosion.
“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,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has constituted a committee to review the laws guiding the control of explosives in the country to determine whether they were violated by illegal miners whose activities led to Tuesday’s deadly explosion in Ibadan.
The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, disclosed this while addressing State House reporters after the first federal cabinet meeting of 2024 presided over by President Tinubu at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Badaru said the council expressed worries about the incident and noted the need to avert future occurrences.
He added that despite preliminary investigations suggesting that explosives stored by illegal miners might have been the cause, there was also suspicion in some quarters that the blast was due to gas.
He said that federal agents were now on the ground at the scene of the incident to ascertain the cause and ways to prevent future occurrences.
“You all know that there is a strict rule in the storage, movement and ownership of these explosives and the rules are being monitored. If there is any case of breakdown, we will find out and deal with it,” he said.
