Ebonyi govt places ban on sell, use of fireworks

Following the rumour going round since yesterday that there was a bomb explosion at Glory Land Secondary school Azugwu, in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi state, Governor David Umahi, has placed a ban on the use of fire works popularly known as knockout across the state.

Governor Umahi placed the ban on Friday while debunking the rumour flying that there was a bomb blast in the state.

Addressing newsmen, Umahi through his Special Assistant on Media Francis Nwaze, warned that anyone caught in possession of knockout will be arrested.

His words: “when his Excellency received the message about alleged bomb explosion in one of the secondary schools in the state, he was shocked. And he gave immediate directive for further investigation about that.

“It was later found out that it was a mere knockout. As a result of this, his Excellency ban the use of knockout in the state, especially in this festive period. He gave the directive this afternoon. And that is the stand of the governor for now.

“When the governor gives a directives, it is expected that the general public should obey it, if they don’t, any person caught will face the full wrath of the law and the government disciplinary committee” he stated.

Earlier, the commissioner for internal security and Border peace, Mr. Stanley Okoro Emegha, also promised to seal off shops selling fire works in the state.

He equally dismissed the rumour making the round, that there was bomb expulsion in the said secondary school.

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According to him: “We showed a proactive response towards the incident yesterday. This is because we will not allow the governor to do everything.

“The way the incident was blown is unfortunate. There was nothing and absolutely nothing like bomb expulsion incident in that Glory Land school, Azugwu.

“There was nothing like expulsive device in that place. You know that this is a Christmas period, that thing was a Christmas fireworks.

“A student smuggled one into the class room while others were taking their exams and he was playing with it. And on the process, one explode and got him wounded. Some of the students were not expecting such and the shock got them down.

“I was called immediately and on getting there, I meet with the affected student. I was there when he was rushed to hospital. The two other who got shocked later regain consciousness and continued with their exams.

“I was the one that told the parents to go back to their home because it was a knockout. As I was leaving to the place, I called the state police command and DSS to start moving to that place, thinking that it was an expulsion. And we discovered that it was a knockout.

“Students, continued with their exams after the whole thing. It was not up to 30 minutes, normalcy returned to the school.

“The PPRO called me this morning, speaking bitterly about it. Because of this that has happened, I will go round the markets in the town and closedown any shops selling knockout in the state” he said

Recall that one SS2 student of Glory Land school Azuiyiokwu known as Azubuike lost his left hand yesterday while playing with fireworks in the school.