Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and his entourage having<\/p>\n
descended the hills of the circuit city of Idanre where a Gala night was
\nheld to mark the grand finale of the annual tourist Mare festival nearly
\ngot lynched at Arakale in Akure, the state capital on Saturday night.
\nDr. Olusegun Mimiko had allegedly gone with siren blaring escorts to
\nsympathize and join in efforts to rescue trapped victims and put out the
\nraging inferno at a cooking gas depot on the busy Arakale road in the
\nstate capital. Irate civilian rescuers had allegedly been worked up by
\nthe lack of quick response from the fire service department. Fire
\nfighters were said to have told first responders when the gas explosion
\nthat triggered huge fire balls first started that they could not come as
\nthey were poorly funded as a result of which they had no fuel in their
\ntrucks or hydrants and other firefighting equipment.
\nApart from the poor response and cold shoulder from confused officials,
\nangry youths and centres of the landmark city also said that they were
\nholding Dr. Mimiko responsible for deliberately closing his eyes to the
\nway in which a culture of corruption and nepotism has now destroyed
\nwhatever the state used to boost of in terms of proper urban and
\nregional planning.
\nThe gas depot ought not to have been sited along a residential area
\nsuch as Arakale. But in furtherance of the evil sectional agenda of
\nweakening and destroying Akure, the administration continues to pack
\najeles into positions for which they are not skilled or competent, said
\nOlu Aladenusi, who claimed to have narrowly escaped being hit by the
\ncanisters and cylinders that first flew to the air moments after the
\nfire started.
\nOlaniran Obe, a young University graduate said that he did not know that
\nthe explosions had not stopped when he joined other sympathizers to put
\nin effort at rescuing victims.
\nAccording to Mr. Obe: no sooner did we begin to assist that cylinders
\nbegan to lift into the air with fatal consequences, my brother, I ran. I
\nlost my shoes. I thought I had been caught or killed, but the moment I
\nfound out that I was still running, I knew I had not died.
\nThe people of Akure who charged after Governor Mimiko also threw objects
\nat fire fighters who later came. Whatever had the symbol or look of
\ngovernment was our target, said a youth who said that his name must not
\nbe printed because of the suspicion that agents of the administration
\nmay want to launch reprisal attack.
\nThe youth explained that the vehicles, properties and officials of the
\nstate and federal administration have become icons of corruption. The
\npeople at the scene of the tragedy accused Governor Mimiko of
\nsquandering resources on a wild dream of trying to relocate the capital
\nof Ondo state to Ondo town. He has perfected an agenda of selecting and
\nanointing idiots and buffoons as jelese over Akure people.
\nLately, he moved from the political turf to threatening to impose an
\nAdesida whose mother came from Ondo as the monarch of Akure. That would
\nbe resisted. Everyone knows that it is the turn of Osupa ruling house to
\nproduce the next Deji, said one of the youths who claimed to have
\nderived pleasure from joining to chase Governor Mimiko away.
\nSoldiers were later said to have been drafted in from the 323 Brigade of
\nthe Nigerian Army before things could be brought under control. The
\nyouths said that the soldiers did not shoot at any defenseless citizen.
\nOh if they did, then we shall defy them and chase Mimiko out of Akure,
\nsaid another youth.
\nThe casualty figure from the explosion which allegedly started at about
\n6.45pm was not yet clear. But an eye witness claimed that more than
\ntwenty bodies must have been removed early Sunday morning. Another
\nindependent source said he only saw one body late Saturday night. The
\ninjured were also said to have been taken to hospitals which are poorly
\nequipped as Mimiko has strategically taken everything that would have
\nassisted in managing trauma to Ondo, his native town.
\nNotwithstanding, the Arakale fire is likely going to affect the future
\nof city planning around Ondo State. A popular debate programme on the
\nlocal OSRC channel had drawn attention to the danger inherent in the
\nlocation of gas stations around residential buildings. While the
\ngovernment reacted swiftly by X-marking some structures for possible
\ndemolition, many people sent messages to the host of the programme
\naccusing him of being meddlesome.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and his entourage having descended the hills of the circuit city of Idanre where a Gala night was held to mark the grand finale…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n