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The Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on ICT, Hon. Stanley Olajide on Wednesday on Wednesday reiterated the 10th Assembly’s resolve towards the passage of bills on State Policing as part of ongoing efforts aimed at tackling the ravaging insecurity across the country.
Hon. Olajide, member representing Ibadan North West/South West of Oyo State who gave the assurance during a press briefing held at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, commiserated with Oyo State Government and families of victims of the explosion which occured in Ibadan, on Tuesday night.
He said: “Community policing is actually one of the very smartest way to police your people. somebody sees something somebody knows something, they need to speak at the right time.
“Failure to do so will cause situation like this. So, we are going to reopen that because remember, we’ve also been talking about State Police, we’ll be talking about Community Police.
“So, I think you know situation like this would actually present an urgency to the matter, so that that way we can get the right support that we need to pass whatever legislation that we need to to pass for this.
“So definitely we’re going to pick this up and it’s going to be in the front burner of the activities of the House as soon as we reconvene as a House.”
While reacting to the Tuesday explosion, Hon. Olajide who applauded the prompt intervention of Governor Seyi Makinde and all the First Responders, noted efforts are ongoing to nip the situation in the board.
He said: “we woke up to a very horrific situation in Ibadan which happened around 8pm last night. From information gathered so far coming from the office of the Governor of Oyo State, who I must also commend immensely for his rapid response to the situation.
“The dynamite or explosive detonated, we do understand the loss of lives. I do not want to speculate on the numbers of lives yet, because I don’t have those firm numbers yet. But we do know that there are casualties.
“From the Office of the Governor we also understand that a lot of people are in the hospitals receiving treatment, which the Governor has actually made commitments to make sure that everybody is taken care of to get the first class medical treatment that they deserve and they are going to get.
“Also let me say this very clearly that, I want to commend the First Responders NEMA, the Police, DSS and all the emergency responders that have responded to this urgent call.
“At this point, that area remains a crime scene, which means we have to work with the law enforcement to preserve the integrity of that area. I was going to go there this morning, but I was advised against it because going there we will also be part of the problem because if we go there, while the whole area has been cordoned off. And so to go there right now, we could polarize the area and we don’t want to play politics with the lives of our people.
“So, at this point, we’ll let the first responders and all of the security, medical agencies on rescue missions, we’ll let them go through their work. And then we’ll now go there condone with our people and also offer the relief materials because when you have a situation like this.
“And also let me say this, I have spoken to the Speaker of the House of Representative Rt. Honourable Tajudeen Abass. He also has offered his condolences to the people of Ibadan and Oyo State at large. And he has actually mandated me to also go ahead and do more fact-finding and present that to him at the end of today.
“So that we can figure out what kind of materials is needed for our people, so that we can actually come up with some kind of relief for our people.
“It’s unfortunate, but the information that we got it is that one of these illegal miners actually was in possession of this explosive in a residential area, which eventually cause this disaster. But we will find out more information.”
In the bid to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the ugly incident, Hon. Olajide beckoned on Director General of Department of State Security to conduct thorough investigation into the incident.
“So, I’ve sent a message to the DG of DSS as well because I also want them to actually make sure that they also do the thorough investigation because it’s one too many. When you have a situation like this, you don’t want to ever have it repeat itself again.
“So, we are also waiting for them to because I also understand that DSS is actually on site as well. So, the message that I send to the DG DSS, I’m also hoping on that. The Police are already on ground and all of the other people.
“So, I also want to thank you all for this emergency session where we are holidays to have this morning many press media houses present to offer this kind of courage to our people.”
While commending Governor Makinde for his timely intervention to curtail the ugly incident, Hon. Olajide said: “Let me also use this opportunity to commend the Governor Governor Makinde to quickly actually nip this in the bud that okay, yes, I find that credible information to even isolate these two illegal miners. I must commend him, he’s the Chief Security Officer of the State, and I’m sure he has security reports that is going to drive him.
“You can be rest assured that we are going to look our hands will be on that. Part Two of my report to the Speaker will also be to recommend some of the short term or long term suggestions on how we’re going to tackle this. We’re in the preliminary stages.
“I don’t want us to put the cart before the horse we are going to unravel so many things. There could be even more to all of this. So, let’s not act as if we know all the details yet. But based on the information we know today, we know that we have a lot of work to do.
“We are going to cooperate with the State Governor, the House of Representative will offer all the support needed so that we can move Nigeria forward and also for Nigeria to use what has happened in Ibadan as a lesson learned, so that this will not happen anywhere in Nigeria.
“Which means also, the control of explosive, if you have this kind of explosive that could do this much damage, that means that this thing is read relatively available in the hands of the wrong people. So, we also have to look at how these things are stored. And so we’re going to take a holistic approach to all of this.
“It’s not going to be one of those things that will be done in a hurry to just quickly come to. I sympathize by with my people from your state we ought to be specific may Almighty Allah offer relief to the people who have lost their lives. You know, we will say special prayers for the people. I will get some of our clerics to arrange a special prayer, so that way, I’m promising relief materials is on the way; both personally and from the House of Representatives and the National Emergency as a whole. We will make sure that we provide for the needs of our people.”
On his part, Hon. Ademorin Kuye expressed condolence to the Government of Oyo State and families of victims.
He said: “I just want to once again join my colleagues to commiserate with the people who have lost a lot in this act of criminality by illegal miners. And I particularly have to come because Ibadan is like my second home. I schooled in Ibadan when it was in Oyo State.
“I just want to further reiterate the position of my colleague, that there is need for fiscal federalism and that can lead cause quickly to having State police. I believe that the President that we have as campaign based on this promises and I know that he’s going to work with the National Assembly to ensure that we have State Police very, very soon.”