Kogi Explosion: Govt vows to arrest perpetrators

The Kogi State Government has vowed to track down those responsible for Thursday’s Okene explosion in order to put a stop to such terrible acts in the state.

Retired Commodore Jerry Omodara, the Kogi State government’s security adviser, made the comment during a phone chat with our reporter in Lokoja.

According to him, no government official has attributed the incident to a transformer explosion, and that police bomb experts have taken samples from the site of the explosion for testing in order to determine the type of explosion that blew off on Thursday in Okene, shortly before President Muhammadu Buhari’s commissioning of some state projects.

READ ALSO: Three People Killed in Kogi Explosion Ahead of Buhari’s Visit

The explosion, which happened at 9.00 a.m. near the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland palace and killed three people, blasted down the palace’s fence.

“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 government would not allow the detractors to go unpunished.

He pointed out that the aims 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 remain 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 will like to cause security breach in the state” he said.

He also stated that the government had intelligence report on 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 the 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 determine if it’s a bomb or dynamite blew off yesterday killing three while some persons were said to have sustained injuries.