Skip to main content

OVER 20 PEOPLE DIE FROM FIRE EXPLOSION AT AN ILLEGAL OIL REFINERY IN BAYELSA


20 people  at least have reportedly been killed at an illegal refinery at Kolo Creek in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and many others were said to have suffered varying degrees of buruns due to the explosion

It was alleged that te JTF, Operation Delta Safe, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, security outfits directly in charge of checking illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism and illegal refineries, have had knowledge of the camp but allegedly failed to stop its operation ever since.

According to reports, tragedy struck in the camp near the creeks of Ebelebiri and Otuogwe when it exploded on December 5, 2017 and went up in flames. Community sources claimed that an attempt by a woman in the camp to cook noodles, using a stove, sparked the fire that caused the havoc.  

An eyewitness described it as tragic, unspeakable and avoidable.  “When we got there, I almost vomited. I saw charred remains of people. They were burnt beyond recognition. In some cases, you could only see heads and feet of victims. Despite the burnt bodies, we still met people illegally cooking crude oil there. We thought that security agencies, especially the military, would have taken over the place, but we didn’t meet any security operatives. We only met people who were still refining illegally bunkered crude oil. It was that bad and terrible.”  

It was gathered that the camp, allegedly owned by a powerful cartel, had been in operation for a long time. Investigation, however, revealed that the state police command had earlier appealed to security agencies in charge of oil theft, especially the NSCDC and the JTF, to clamp down on the site and arrest the operators.  A police source told newsmen that the Commissioner of Police uncovered the existence of the camp through intelligence gathering and warned of dire consequences.

The source said the commissioner had, in September, allegedly dispatched a letter to security commanders in charge of oil theft, appealing to them to treat the matter with urgency.  He quoted some parts of the letter as saying, “Information gathered revealed that the presence of ongoing illegal refining of petroleum products such as kerosene, diesel at Ebelebiri and Otuogwe, two communities in the Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State, under the Kolo jurisdiction.  “The activities of these criminals constitute economic sabotage to the nation as well as endangering lives and properties as explosion on this pipeline may lead to disaster”. He said

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dont go for second term-Obasanjo tells Buhari

The former President of Nigeria Dr Olusegun Obasanjo has yesterday advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to run for a second term. He accused the President of nepotism, having a poor understanding of politics and engaging in blame games rather than accepting responsibility for his failure. Obasanjo said he worked against his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to help the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Buhari win the last presidential election. But, the situation that made Nigerians to vote, massively for Buhari, he said, is playing itself out again. The former President, who recently bagged a doctorate degree in Christian Theology from the National Open University (NOUN), issued a “Special Press Statement”, titled: The way out: A clarion call for Coalition for Nigeria MovemeNigeriaich he gave the media in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. Obasanjo said: “The lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic mana...
Post a Comment
Read more

Amaechi Reveals what He does with His salary as a Minister

The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has revealed how much he earns monthly under Buhari’s administration. Amaechi speaking at the presentation of a book titled, ‘Dignity in Service,’ authored by the late Dr. Matthew Mbu, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs said he earns “only N950,000” a month, out of which he also pays his aides. While extolling the virtues of the late Mbu, Amaechi promised to promote transparency. He said, “A minister earns only N950, 000 a month. Out of this money, N350, 000 is for accommodation, so there is no more money given to you. The remaining N600, 000 includes payment for your staff, personal assistants and all that. “Nigerians like going to parties. That is one benefit of this government. We now assess our wealth and value money. Before, once you get money from the illegal means, we hold parties. There are very few parties these days because there is no more money to hold such parties. “There are no ‘owambe’ anymore b...
Post a Comment
Read more