BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
The Kogi State Government has vowed to unravel the perpetrators of Thursday’s Okene explosion in a bid to put an end to such heinous acts in the state.
This was made known in a statement by the Security Adviser to the Kogi State government, Retired Commodore Jerry Omodara, in Lokoja.
According to him, no government official attributed the incident to transformer explosion, adding that police bomb experts have taken samples from the venue of the explosion for test in order to ascertain the type of explosion that blew off on Thursday in Okene shortly before President Muhammadu Buhari’s commissioning of some projects in the state.
The explosion, which occurred around 9.00 a.m. close to the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland palace resulted in the death of three persons, blew down the fence of the palace.
“It is an expert who can authoritatively say that the explosion is either a dynamite or bomb. Until the experts come out with their investigation and result, nobody can attribute it to anything yet.”
Omodara, who stated that the state government has already engaged security agents to unravel those behind the ugly incident, vowed that the government would not allow the detractors to go unpunished.
He pointed out that the aim of the perpetrator was to discourage President Buhari from coming to the state to commission projects executed by Governor Yahaya Bello, noting that the president was very happy to see many of the laudable projects provided for the people of the state.
“Governor Yahaya Bello is determined to ensure that the state remains safe as the gateway to the North and South. Whatever happens to Kogi State in terms of security will definitely affect the entire country and we will continue to fight those who would like to cause security breaches in the state” he said.
He also stated that the government had an intelligence report on the Okene explosion which “explains why they had enough deployment of security personnel across the state to be able to frustrate their efforts”.
The security adviser described Thursday’s Okene explosion as the handiwork of enemies of progress.
“Unfortunately, in spite of that, the enemies of progress still tried to distract President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kogi by setting that explosion.
“All the same, the deployment and tight security around didn’t allow them to achieve their aim.”
It should be recalled that an explosive which is yet to be determined if it’s a bomb or dynamite, blew off on Thursday, killing three while some persons were said to have sustained injuries.
