The President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Bishop Wale Oke, has attributed the explosion that occured at Dejo Oyelese Street, Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday night to the level of corruption in the country.
According to Tribune, Bishop Oke disclosed this during an on-the-spot assessment of the extent of damage done by the blast which left in its trail the death of five persons while 77 others are being treated for various degrees of injuries sustained.
He noted that the accident could have been averted if greater value was placed on human lives.
The cleric then urged the security agencies to keep track of the activities of the miners, borehole drillers and well diggers in the state in a bid to avert a recurrence.
Bishop Oke equally called for a thorough investigation to unearth more facts about the incident.
At the scene while body parts were still being pulled out of the rubbles created by the explosion, the cleric lauded the State Governor, Seyi Makinde who was said to have gone to Abuja to brief President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the incident, for his swift response and for mobilizing the first respondents to the scene of the blast.
He enjoined the Federal Government to “be more decisive in dealing with the horrible level of corruption that has pervaded every strata of the Nigerian society which has allowed this and several horrible disasters currently afflicting our society, resulting in the death of several innocent citizens.”
Calling on the state and federal government to rise to the occasion by giving necessary support to the affected families and businesses in the area, Oke who also the Presiding Bishop of Sword of The Spirits Ministries, adminished that full safety protocols should be deployed to cushion both the immediate and remote impacts of the explosion on human lives and the environment.
He promised that PFN and other Christian bodies in the country will continue to pray for the affected people, the government and the residents of the state, urging the residents’ association and the security agencies to keep track of those living in their midst.
Bishop Oke led prayers for the families of the dead victims, the officials of the state handling the recovery efforts, the state Governor and President Tinubu.
He then paid a visit to the former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Senator Iyiola Oladokun, whose residence is a stone’s throw to the scene.
Bishop Oke was received during the visit by Prof. Temitope Alonge, Chairman, Oyo State Covid-19 Taskforce; Commissioner for Health, Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi; Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Security Matters, Fatai Owoseni; and a Director of the Federal Road Safety Commission.
