By Adeyinka Adeniran
About a year after explosions rocked Bodija area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital city, Governor Seyi Makinde has calmed frayed nerves assuring that suspects arrested for the incident have not gotten off the hook as being speculated in some quarters.
The governor said the suspects are still before appropriate authority and the law is taking its course, though it may be seen to be grinding slowly.
He gave the assurance at the weekend during a media chat on the state owned Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS).
According to the governor, the Bodija Explosion, which took place in January 2024, and the recent stampede at Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan, venue of the Ibadan Children Funfair were totally avoidable if the right things had been done by everyone involved.
During the live programme, the governor, who declared that a minute of silence be observed for the 35 children who lost their lives in stampede in Ibadan on Tuesday, described the incident as a monumental tragedy.
The Nation reports that the trio of Ramatu Camara, 47, Ganiu Malik, 20, and Abubakar Samasa 64, were charged by the police with conspiracy, use of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, stockpiling of radioactive materials, and dispersal of biological weapons, but they pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The suspects are facing trial before Justice E.U. Akpan of a Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Recall that on January 6, 2024 massive explosions from suspected miners went off resulting in the death of about six people with close to a hundred injured. About 60 housed were also damaged.
Governor Makinde also used the occasion of the media chat to clarify his position on the controversial Tax Reform Bill by the Federal Government, noting that he was not opposed to the tax reforms, but that the Federal Government needed to engage with a wider array of stakeholders to achieve a meaningful reform.
The governor, who was part of those who briefed the media on the position of the National Economic Council on the bill, following which he was criticised by a section of the public for opposing the tax reform bill, said Nigerians should learn to focus on the message rather than the messenger.
“At the level of the National Economic Council, we asked the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force a question on the whereabouts of the bill and he said that it was already at the National Assembly. I said if that was the case, why are you just coming here for us to debate and give you the approval as prayed. It amounted to putting the cart before the horse.
“It was an agreement reached unanimously at the NEC meeting; withdraw this bill from the National Assembly, let us have a wider consultation. If people have reservations here and there, it is something that is national and you can seek alignment. And when you align, it may be in the original form, or you may have to tweak it to accommodate whatever the stakeholders are going to say.
“I was asked to be part of the people that would brief the press, and my bit was to explain our decision on why the bill should be withdrawn so that consultation could happen with stakeholders, but some people just focused on the messenger as opposed to focusing on the message.”
