Ordinarily, Aba-Agbo is not a village in the consciousness of many. But the sleepy community in Iru Local Government Area of Lagos State has since Christmas day been playing host to visitors, including top government officials and humanitarian organisations, courtesy of a pipeline explosion that occurred in Ikate, a stone�s throw from the village.
According to the Baale of Aba-Agbo, Chief Nurudeen Idowu, his people were savouring the joy of the season in the early hours of Christmas day when they heard an explosion. �We heard a loud noise and people tried to trace where it was coming from,� he said.
By the time the scouts discovered a raging fire, it became obvious that a tragedy had occurred and nobody could go near the scene of the incident. Left with no option, the villagers ran back home and resorted to contacting the authorities at the local and state levels, as well as the police.
The response was quick, as firemen arrived with their fire-fighting tools. The battle to put out the fire commenced. But by the time the fire subsided, it became obvious that another major tragedy had befallen the nation. Charred remains of human beings who were said to be the scooping fuel from a burst pipeline littered the area.
Hundreds of Jerry cans and partly burnt clothes and pairs of shoes abandoned by those who had fled from the scene littered the area.
A Red Cross official, who sought anonymity, described the sight of the burnt remains of human beings at the scene as sickening.
Attah Benson, the Disaster Director of the Red Cross told Saturday Punch that like in order previous disasters, his men had no option but to take part in clearing the corpses that littered the area.
By the time they finished gathering the corpses, it was certain that close to 50 people, mostly women and children, had been consumed by the fire.
Surprisingly, nobody came forward to report a missing relation, leaving the authorities with no option but to give the corpses mass burial at the scene of the accident in the early hours of Wednesday. The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris said the victims were buried to prevent an outbreak of epidemic in the affected area.
While less than 10 survivors were said to be taken to different hospitals in the area, Red Cross officials believed that some of the survivors were taken to secret locations for fear that they might be arrested for illegally scooping fuel from the pipeline. Benson told Saturday Punch that his men spent the better part of Wednesday going from house to house in the surrounding villages, including Aba-Agbo to implore the villagers to release some of the survivors for treatment. �We believe that many of them are being hidden in their homes,� Benson said. �We told them that we were there to save lives and not to arrest people, but they said their relations were not involved. But some of the people who visited the villages confirmed that some of the villagers are in a bad mood.�
There were indications that the disaster would have been averted if prompt action had been taken by the authorities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to repair the burst pipeline. Chief Nurudeen Idowu said that complaints had been lodged with the NNPC by the leaders of the village when they noticed that fuel was being siphoned from the pipeline supplying petroleum products to Atlas Cove Jetty. He added that some NNPC officials only came to look at what was going on at the scene without doing anything to stop those involved in the illegal operation.
Now that the tragedy has occurred, government officials and agencies are ranting and spoiling for showdown. The NNPC in a statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, threatened to combat the trend, calling on other Nigerians to join the crusade against pipeline vandalisation. �Pipeline vandalisation remains a serious economic crime whose end requires the support of all well meaning Nigerians.�
The Minister of Information, John Odey said the Federal Government would no longer tolerate acts of vandalism to national infrastructure. �The government is resolved to eradicate incidences like this from our country and want all Nigerians to give their support,� he said.
Dec292007