About a year after explosions rocked Bodija area of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, Governor Seyi Makinde has calmed frayed nerves, assuring residents that the suspects arrested over the incident have not been left off the hook as being speculated in some quarters.
He said they were still before appropriate authority and the law was taking its course, though it might be seen to be grinding slowly.
Makinde spoke at the weekend during a media chat on the state-owned Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS).
He said the Bodija explosion, which occurred in January and the recent stampede at Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan, venue of the Ibadan Children Funfair, were avoidable if the right things had been done by everyone involved.
During the live programme, the governor, who declared that a minute of silence be observed for the 35 children, who died in the stampede in Ibadan last Tuesday, described the incident as a tragedy.
The Nation reports that the trio of Ramatu Camara, 47, Ganiu Malik, 20, and Abubakar Samasa 64, were charged by the police with conspiracy, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, stockpiling of radioactive materials and dispersal of biological weapons, but they pleaded not guilty.
The suspects are facing trial before Justice E.U. Akpan of a Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan.
Recall that on January 6, massive explosions from suspected miners went off, resulting in the death of about six persons, with close to a hundred injured. About 60 housed were also damaged.
Governor Makinde used the occasion of the media chat to clarify his position on the controversial Tax Reform Bill by the Federal Government, noting that he was not opposed to the reform, but that the Federal Government needed to engage with a wider array of stakeholders to achieve a meaningful reform.
The governor, who was part of those who briefed the media on the position of the National Economic Council (NEC) on the bill, following which he was criticised by a section of the public for opposing the tax reform bill, said Nigerians should learn to focus on the message rather than the messenger.
“At the level of the National Economic Council, we asked the chairman of the Presidential Task Force a question on the whereabouts of the bill and he said it was already at the National Assembly. I said if that was the case, why are you just coming here for us to debate and give you the approval as prayed? It amounted to putting the cart before the horse.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
