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The House of Representatives has again pledged its commitment to the passage of bills on state policing in a bid to address insecurity across the country.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information and Communication Technology, Stanley Olajide, gave the pledge on Wednesday in Abuja while commiserating with the Oyo State Government and families of victims of the Tuesday explosion in Ibadan, the state capital.
Reports have it that two people died and several others were injured when an explosion occurred at the Dejo Oyelese Street in the Bodija area of Ibadan.
Addressing journalists at the National Assembly Complex, Olajide, a member representing the Ibadan North West/South West constituency of Oyo State said communal policing remains a good way of safeguarding the people.
He said, “Community policing is actually one of the very smartest ways to police your people. Somebody sees something, and knows something; they need to speak at the right time.
“Failure to do so will cause situations like this. So, we are going to reopen that because remember, we have also been talking about state police, we will be talking about community police.
“I think you know a situation like this would actually present an urgency to the matter, so that this way, we can get the right support that we need to pass whatever legislation that we need to pass for this.
“Definitely, we’re going to pick this up and it’s going to be on the front burner of the activities of the House as soon as we reconvene as a House.”
Commending the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde’s prompt response to the tragedy, the lawmaker said the state government acted swiftly to get the situation in check.
“We woke up to a very horrific situation in Ibadan which happened around 8 pm last night (Tuesday) 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.
“I do not want to speculate on the numbers of lives yet, because I don’t have those 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. 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,” he added.
He also commended security agencies and the National Emergency Management Agency for their quick response minutes after the explosion occurred.
“I want to commend the NEMA, the police, the Department of State Services 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 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 will also be part of the problem. We don’t want to play politics with the lives of our people,” he further said.
Having briefed the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen on the incident, the lawmaker said he has been mandated to go on a fact-finding mission on behalf of the Green Chamber.
“When this is done, we can figure out the kind of materials needed for our people. This will enable us to come up with some kind of relief materials for our people,” he said, adding that the information before him was that the explosion was connected with the activities of illegal miners.
“It’s unfortunate, but the information that we got is that one of these illegal miners was in possession of explosives in a residential area, which eventually caused this disaster. But we will find out more information.”
In the bid to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the ugly incident, Olajide called on the Director-General of the Department of State Security to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.
“So, I’ve sent a message to the DG of DSS as well because I also want them to make sure that they do a 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,” he stated.
Also speaking, a lawmaker from Lagos State, Ademorin Kuye, condoled with the Government and people of Oyo State over the incident.
He said, “I just want to 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 studied in Ibadan when I was in Oyo State.
“I just want to further reiterate the position of my colleague, that there is a need for fiscal federalism and that can lead us quickly to having a state police. I believe that the President campaigned based on these promises and I know that he’s going to work with the National Assembly to ensure that we have state police very soon.”
