Panic as explosion rocks section of Ibadan

FOR several hours, residents of Ibadan, the Oyo State, were in a panic mode as explosion rocked Bodija and its environs in Ibadan, on Tuesday.

The explosion came with a loud sound and occurred some minutes past 7 p.m.

Several residential buildings, malls, recreational centres, business centres, worship centres, including the Oyo Governor’s Office and Oyo House of Assembly were affected.

Deji Oyelese Street, Adeyi Avenue, Bodija, was the focal centre of the incident as the atmosphere was engulfed in smoke after the incident. At the same time, people were rescued and taken to the hospital.

Some of the victims were seen being put into trucks and taken to the hospital while security agencies cordoned off the avenue.

Several residents suffered injuries as a result of the incident.

People were heard making frantic calls for ambulance.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the explosion was from a private residence on Adeyi Avenue.

The effect of the blast was felt as far as Ologuneru, New Garage, Basorun, Akobo, Sango, Eleyele, and Imalefalafia areas.

But the state government, through the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mr Dotun Oyelade, said all security chiefs and fire operatives had been deployed to prevent a spillover of the explosion.

He called for calm, saying the state government had taken full control of the incident.

The statement by Oyelade read: “Residents of Ibadan and immediate environs experienced an uncommon explosion about 8 p.m. this evening.

“There are various interpretations of the incident but it is important for us to state categorically that the state government has taken over and in the full control of the unfortunate occurrence in order to mitigate the incident.

“All security service chiefs including paramilitary chiefs and fire operatives have been deployed by the governor to rein in the spillover from the explosion.

“His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, therefore implores citizens to calm down and rest assured that their interests are being looked after.”

The Oyo command of the Nigeria Police confirmed the explosion though it noted that the cause was unknown.

Via its X handle, @OyoPoliceNG, the police said the number of dead and injured was unknown.

The police assured of ample deployment on ground to cordon off the area and get further information on the incident.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO), University College Hospital (UCH), ‘Funmi Adetuyibi, confirmed that some patients had been rushed to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit.

She stated that the patients were brought into the hospital in batches with different degrees of injuries.

According to her, some of the patients include children.

While confirming damages to some parts of the hospital, like the School of Nursing and a bank within the hospital premises, she said by today the hospital would be able to give full details of the number of casualties from the incident.

Another source confided in Nigerian Tribune that casualties as of the time of filing the report were about 15.

A woman lamented that several of her neighbours were trapped in a building she saw collapse.

When Nigerian Tribune visited Awolowo Avenue, Old Bodija, Ibadan, where a popular shopping mall and an eatery are located, it was observed that the two buildings were affected by the explosion.

An eyewitness who was around the shopping mall when the incident occurred told the Nigerian Tribune that some people were actually injured and were rushed to a nearby private hospital.

When approached for comment, an official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), simply told the Nigerian Tribune that:” The information at hand as of now is still sketchy, so I cannot make any comment.”

Nigerian Tribune observed movements of ambulance while various security agents were on ground.

Efforts to gain access to Adeyi Avenue, Old Bodija, where the explosion occurred proved abortive as security personnel on ground prevented human and vehicular movement.

However, experts Nigerian Tribune spoke to who equally heard the sound expressed doubts that it was an earth tremor.

Professor James Adegoke a geophysicist in the Department of Physics, University of Ibadan, said he was not going to speculate but expressed doubts that the incident was a tremor.

He told Nigerian Tribune, “I heard the sound but I don’t want to speculate about what caused it. We do have some fault lines that run from Dahomey in  Benin Republic to Abeokuta but they are not active.”

In his opinion, Professor Akinade Olatunji told Nigerian Tribune that: “An earth tremor is just the shaking of the ground. From the kind of destruction we have seen, this was not caused by a natural phenomenon.”