Akure explosion : We have set up investigative team, says Police DIG

Explosion

By Muftau Ogunyemi

Akure, March 30, 2020 (NAN) Mr Abdulmajid Alli, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of Operations, says that the Nigerian Police Force  has set up an investigative team that will unravel what actually went wrong and led to  the explosion that rocked Akure last Saturday.

Alli said this while speaking with newsmen at the scene of incident on Monday in Akure.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a truck loaded with dynamite exploded on Saturday morning along  the Akure/Owo Expressway  and destroyed buildings belonging to schools,  churches and many private individuals.

It also divided into two the road linking Owo to Akure.

NAN, however .reports that no lives were lost in the  incident that occurred around 1:00 a.m.

The DIG said that  he was in Akure on the directives of the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu.

He added that he came in company  with the Director of Geological Survey of Nigeria to assess what actually went wrong with a view to  guiding the nation against future occurrence.

Alli, however, said that what exploded was not asteroid, saying that  it was dynamite.

He said that the Nigerian Police  Force and the Nigeria Mining Department were aware of the plan to transport  the consignment before the truck  transporting  it took off from Lagos State.

According to him, the owner of the consignment is with the police.

He said that the police could not put the blame on anybody for now but that it’s personnel  would  carry out their investigations and suggest  the next step to take.

“What I can see is the impact of the  explosion that happened here and we cannot actually ascertain what went wrong until when the  team we set up must have come out with their report.

“We have set up a team, a  combined team of  experts from the police  and officials from the geological survey that will carry out  some investigations and come out with a  report of what actually went wrong.

“If anybody is saying it is asteroid, that is their own assumption

“That is not what happened because we are quite aware of the movement and aware of the explosive being transported.

“And they have the permission of  the Nigerian  Police  Force and the  permission of the  Nigeria Mining department, we have done the  necessary things we should do but what went wrong is what we want to know.

“With the team set up, we can be rest assured that the nation will get the best result and best report of what went wrong,” he said.(NAN)

OMA/DE/PAD

============

Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Peter Dada