There was fear in
Ado-Ekiti on Saturday, as a loud bang suspected to be bomb explosion rocked
Ekiti state old government Secretariat.
It was gathered that
the explosion, which occurred around 7.05 am, ripped some of the buildings at
the old government secretariat located at the Oke-Oriomi area of Ado-Ekiti,
where the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy and some other agencies
and departments were located.
Other buildings
located over two kilometres away from the scene of the incident were also
affected, as the explosion reverberated around the city of Ado-Ekiti,
especially at Okesa, Okeyinmi, Irona and Ilawe road, making the people living
in those areas to scamper for safety.
It was gathered that the explosion occurred at
the Ordinance Explosive Disposal Department (EoD) of the Ekiti police command. The
bungalow housing the EoD office was ripped apart, while the adjoining offices
that housed the office of the Nigerian Union of journalists, Correspondents’
chapel, Ekiti chapter was badly affected.
All the offices around the area were affected,
louvre blades and glasses shattered to pieces while the asbestos and Polyvinyl
Chloride (PVC) ceiling, doors and windscreen of vehicles parked around the
offices were shredded into pieces.
The police
Commissioner, Mr Asuquo Amba and officers of the anti-bomb squad arrived the
scene shortly after the explosion and immediately swung into action by removing
some of the explosive materials in the area.
Governor Kayode Fayemi
and the Deputy Governor, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, also visited the site of the
explosion. Fayemi, however, said the EoD office shouldn’t have been located in
the area, saying: “it ought to be in a far distance.
The CP while
addressing newsmen at the site of the bomb blast added that he suspected that
the explosion was caused by counter-terrorism accessories kept in the office.
According to him, ” Let my men from anti bomb department check around. Officers
of the anti bomb are combing the place as you can see. “This is the office
where they keep detonation accessories. The explosion must have been caused by
equipment kept in their stock house. “The area has been cordoned off. We are
going to devise means of ensuring Improvement in the stocking of these
equipment next time. “We are happy that there is no loss of life, no casualty.
Some of these devises are used to detect bomb and to detonate it . Some of them used to detonate on their own and that must have caused the explosion,” Amba stated.