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Days after, victims narrate how they escaped death, lost all to strange explosion
• ‘How fire outbreak triggered explosion’
• Our church was devastated; we still can’t find some of our members – Pastor
By Oluseye Ojo
The serenity of Old Bodija Estate, an upscale community being occupied by the elite in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was disrupted on Tuesday January 16, 2024.
It was the day a strange and sudden explosion that occurred on Dejo Oyelese Street around Adeyi Avenue wreaked monumental havoc on the entire area. The spot of the explosion is within the vicinity of the home of a former Minister of Justice, the late Chief Bola Ige.
The blast, according to the police, occurred around 7:44pm on the fateful Tuesday. The blast flattened everything within its immediate radius. The vibration which accompanied the blast caused partial destruction to some structures at the Oyo State Government Secretariat in Agodi, University College Hospital at Oritamefa, and some other places in the city.
Property, including houses, cars and things in them, were destroyed. So far, five lives have been lost, and 77 persons injured.
Initially, some people thought the explosion was a result of an earth tremor, while others thought the place was being shelled by terrorists. The situation, however, became clearer when the state government issued a statement that explosives stored by illegal miners caused the explosion.
Many people, including a former deputy governor of the state, Chief Iyiola Oladokun, were rendered homeless by the blast, as his house was badly affected. But he thanked God that he and other members of his family were safe.
How fire outbreak triggered explosion
– Eyewitness
A man of about 26 years, who was at the Accident and Emergency Unit of the University College Hospital (UCH), and preferred anonymity for security reasons, shared his experience on the fateful Tuesday to Saturday Sun.
He was at the hospital to take care of his friend, a lady who lived in the building where the explosion occurred.
“My friend lived in that house where the incident happened. She told me she wanted to stay indoors all through that day. But I told her that she should come out, and that I was coming to pick her. So, she said I should not bother, that she would come to my place.
“As she was coming out from her rented apartment at the back of the main building – there were other tenants in the building – she noticed that the main building, a duplex, was on fire. She informed me that the main house was on fire. Immediately I made a phone call to the Oyo State Fire Service. But I didn’t get through.
“Five minutes later, I called her back. As we were talking, I heard something like a bomb blast. The call went off. I dialled her number again and again, but I could no longer connect with her.
“I decided to go to her place. When I got to her street, it was very dark. I could not see the other side. We could not even see anybody. You would even forget about yourself.
“I managed to locate her and I joined in rescuing a lot of people by God’s grace. I suspect it was that fire that triggered the mining explosives that were inside that house that affected everybody. The house itself is down.
“My friend is in UCH responding to treatment. Thank God she came out when the fire was burning. She only sustained hand and head injuries. If she did not come out, the blast would have killed her. But the other tenants, we don’t know their whereabouts yet.”
We still can’t reach some of our members, says pastor
The Rev’d (Dr.) Julius Okanlawon is the pastor in charge of Bodija Estate Baptist Church, which is on the next street to the scene of the blast. He recounted: “I left the church premises around 6:30p.m. on Tuesday for home. I stay not too far from the church. I live around Oshuntokun here in Old Bodija.
“While at home, I heard a very nasty blast. I thought the blast came from my immediate environment, only to discover that it was not. Later, I got to know that it happened around Dejo Oyelese Street, which is the next street to the Church Street, which is Adeyi Avenue.
“On getting to the church, I discovered that the church has been terribly affected. First, coming from the scene of the incident, I realised that two buildings were already down, and several buildings, very close to them, were equally affected.
“Actually, before I got to the church, I had received calls from church members, who stay around this place, telling me that the blast caused devastations in our area. Some buildings had their ceilings down, and some had their louvres destroyed. I got different reports. I became worried. I drove down to the church to see what was actually going on. On getting to the church, I discovered that all our doors were gone. I also noticed that all the louvres in the church were gone.
“But I never knew the extent of the effect because it was already dark. So, I had to come to church very early on Wednesday morning. It was then I realised that there are other effects on the church building.
“The new toilet that is under construction was completely destroyed. There are about six major cracks on the wall of the church. We discovered some metals, and rods that came from, maybe one of the vehicles that got bombed. They were sledged, and slashed against the wall of the church, and they made great impacts on it.
“The glass at the media room is gone. Some of the electronics in the church were gone. The air conditioners, our fans and several other property of the church was destroyed. I also discovered that the church ceiling has been terribly affected. It needs a complete replacement. The ceiling of the children’s church, the ceiling of offices, where there is no decking, were all badly affected. The teenage church is affected. The extent of the damage cannot be estimated now.
“By extension, nothing less than 25 of our church members’ houses were affected. Some of them on Dejo Oyelese, which is the street where the blast happened. Some of them live at Francis Okediji, another next neighbour. Some of them are at Agala Estate. Some of them at Obasa. Some of them at Coca-Cola. As many that are within these radius were terribly affected. It is only God that can help us and that can come to our aid.
“About three of the buildings that were mostly affected, we have some of our members there. We have not been able to ascertain the conditions they are. But some of them are safe, while we have not been able to reach about two to four of them. We are yet to know their conditions.
“We are also pleading with fhe Federal Government, international bodies, the state government, non-government organisations, individuals and even body of Christ to come ro our aid in a time like this.
We thought it was a bomb – School principal
Mrs Abimbola Jordans, Principal of the Stone Technical College, a vocational and skill acquisition training centre close to the scene of the blast, betrayed emotions when she spoke with Saturday Sun.
She recalled how the college was founded six years ago, and how it has trained more than 200 students within the period. She said the whole building has suffered structural defects due to the explosion.
Her words: “In this school, we open by 8am and close by 5pm from Monday to Friday. So, after we closed on Tuesday, I was at home and when it was around 7:40p.m., I heard a bang on my widows, around Veterinary in Mokola. I thought it was caused by heavy winds, that the rain was about to fall again. But my husband said that should be a bomb.”
Jordans stated that she got to know that her school was affected by the blast later. She added that the whole roof of the building, doors, windows, laptops, machines, tables, most of the things that students constructed for the college were completely destroyed.
She added: “This incident is not the act of God, but man-made. We are moving to one of our hostels temporarily pending the time we would rent a building for the school. We can no longer stay here. The whole building has developed structural defect. It is risky as we are here because it can come down at any time.”
The Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Oyo State branch, Dr. Wale Lasisi, said since the incident occurred in Bodija, most of the patients were taken to hospitals around the area.
“We have about 25 injured persons that were documented at private hospitals at Bodija. But those that were not documented came to about 40. Many of them have been treated, discharged and have gone home,” he said.
The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed, who paid an assessment visit to the scene of the blast on Thursday, said at least 58 houses have so far been confirmed to have been affected by the explosion.
He said no one could talk of compensation to the victims until a comprehensive assessment had been carried out. He said: “Definitely NEMA will intervene. The Federal Government will come in. That is why we are here. We are awake. Nobody has slept.”
A former member of Oyo State House of Assembly, Olalekan Olagunju, has noted that those working with the suspected foreign illegal miners might have mining explosives in their rented apartments, possibly in different parts of the state.
Meanwhile, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who has visited the scene of the explosion, and some of the hospitals as well as hotels, where some victims are being sheltered, attributed the cause of the blast to activities of some miners that stockpiled mining explosives in a private apartment in the residential area. He vowed that those responsible for the blast would be punished.
He has set up an Emergency Situation Room and Medical Team, being coordinated by a former Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof Temitope Alonge, over the incident.
Special Adviser on Security Matters to the governor, Mr Fatai Owoseni, a retired Commissioner of Police, noted that there is a precious stone market in Ojoo, Ibadan, which the state government has not been able to do anything about because of the miners’ alleged federal connections.
