…6 Civilian JTF members shot dead
Nine people died in separate incidents in Oyo and Borno States yesterday. In the Ibadan, Oyo State tragedy, three people died with five others injured from burns when a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) petrol tanker trying to offload fuel suddenly exploded and caught fire at Orogun Junction on Ojoo Expressway. Read more
The three victims were said to have been burnt to death as the fuel flew into the area and exploded, it burnt property and human beings found along its path.
Two Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and about eight shops in the area were also torched by the raging inferno.
The situation got out of hands when the state’s fire service that arrived at the scene ran out of water and had to wait for another vehicle for replenishment.
While still waiting for water, the fire went wild and engulfed the surrounding shops and some other houses around including some vehicles parked along the road.
The five people who sustained serious burns were rushed to hospital in an Oyo State ambulance.
The incident occurred beside Energy Filling Station at Orogun junction along Iwo Road/Ojoo Expressway around 11.30am.
Heavy smoke covered the area as most shops and car owners who parked their vehicles in some perimeters close to the scene made frantic efforts to remove them.
An eyewitness, Dr. Ayo Osisanwo, told newsmen that the tragedy started when an NNPC truck was offloading fuel from another NNPC truck which had mechanical fault and had broken down in the middle of the road.
According to him, the inferno started in the process of technical transfer of the fuel to an empty tanker when the loaded tanker suddenly caught fire.
The situation caused heavy traffic snarl as only one lane was used by motorists, just as policemen and Civil Defence operatives had difficult time controlling the traffic.
Hoodlums also took advantage of the situation to steal property of victims who had fled the scene to safety.
Another eyewitness who does not want his name in print, said:”An NNPC tanker was trying to offload fuel from the other one that fell off by the roadside. Suddenly, the loaded one caught fire and the driver tried hard to drive it away from the one already burning. He hurriedly abandoned the vehicle after the rescue”.
Meanwhile, six members of the youth vigilance group (a.k.a. Civilian JTF) were yesterday killed in a border town in Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents.
Sources said the youths were shot dead at about 1.30am yesterday at Damasak, headquaters of Mobbar Local Government in a house where they slept after the day’s business. They were said to have gone to the town, about 187 kilometres from Maiduguri to sell jewelleries on Monday, being the market day.
“They decided to spend the night since it was late, but unknown to them, their assailants were close by. They were shot on the head and chest while sleeping,” a member of the Civilian JTF said.
Five of the victims were said to have chartered a cab belonging to one of their colleagues also killed by the insurgents. Emotion was high among friends and relatives of the deceased when their bodies were brought to Maiduguri yesterday through Baga Road. The names of the deceased were given as Ismail Alhaji Bunu,36,Malam Goni,27, Buzu Bukar, 27, Mohammed Modu, 20, Aliyu Jibrin,30 and Bukar Bako,20.
A member of the group, Kariyama Mohammed, who also went to Damasak but did not sleep in the same house with the victims, said he learnt of the tragedy yesterday morning when they were supposed to return to Maiduguri.
“We travelled together to Damasak to trade in necklace but I did not sleep in the same house with them. It was in the morning that I learnt of their death.”
Sources said the assailants were four and had shot their victims dead “when they were fast asleep,” adding that there is no trace of their whereabouts yet.
Leader of the Civilian JTF on Baga Road, Bakura Adamu, expressed sadness over the incident, noting that the youths were members of the group who worked tirelessly to defend the state against the insurgents.
Damasak is located on the Nigeria-Niger border with high commercial activities especially jewelleries, clothes and gold. Security sources said many of the insurgents that fled their Karenuwa, Marte camp following the offensive by the Special Forces in the early days of the state of emergency, may have hid in some villages around the border areas.
From GBENGA ADESUYI, Ibadan and TIMOHY OLANREWAJU, Maiduguri
CULLED FROM THE SUN NEWSPAPER
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