A destroyed refinery By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) says it has destroyed 134 illegal refineries in the last few weeks. Also, the company said 63 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered during the the weeks . The corporation, In a visual report, stated that at about 2 am on Sunday, a joint team of security agents discovered a large wooden boat illicitly loading stolen crude oil from Barge AGS01 within the OML 18 operating area, noted intelligence report a large wooden wooden boat was caught receiving crude oil from the barge. According to the state-owned oil firm, while the barge was towed away with a tugboat in custody, five speedboats used in towing the large wooden boat to the illegal loading site were also detained and the particulars of the tugboats and barge used for the operation were reportedly seized for further investigation. It further said that two large boats, which involve
By Akinola Ajibade
Residents of Lokoja were in a state of confusion recently, following a bomb explosion which rocked the ancient city recently.
The explosion, which took place around the office of the Secretary to Kogi State Government, Ministry of Women Affairs and Chieftaincy Affairs, made many workers to scamper for safety.
The explosion, according to Sahara reporters rocked the ever-busy post office area of Lokoja, the state capital.
Also,several media in Nigeria including Daily Trust, Punch and Sahara reporters reported the incident.
“The explosion happened around 8.30am when workers were resuming in their various offices and shop owners were out to open their shops for the daily business,” Daily Trust reported.
Sahara Reporter said that an object like a bomb was sighted around the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs which has in its opposite and adjacent, offices of the secretary to the state government and Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, including the newly completed Muhammadu Buhari event centre that is awaiting Commission at the far opposite.
When contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Egbuka, confirmed the incident.
He said, “Yes, what happened was, we were informed of a package that looked like a bomb, left on the premises; and I immediately, deployed the bomb disposal unit there to assess the object.
“The object was immediately blown up, the explosion you heard was the handwork of our bomb disposing unit brought about by their efforts to blow up the object.”
He said an investigation has commenced to ascertain the character of the object to measure the motive behind its presence in the areas.
The Kogi State Government has, however, denied this, arguing that what the Police found was a plastic bottle and a can of insecticide wrapped together with a power source to look like an IED.
In a statement, Onogwu Muhammed, the chief press secretary to the governor, said there was no bomb explosion recorded.
Muhammed, however, said there was a call to the police regarding an object which looked like an improvised explosive device (IED) around the fence of one of the ministries.
The Bomb Disposal Unit at the Nigerian Police Force Command located a minute away from the scene was immediately deployed to the area,” the statement reads.
“On arrival, they found out that it was a plastic bottle and a can of insecticide wrapped together with a power source to look like an IED. It was discovered to be a hoax and the object was removed by operatives of the Bomb Disposal Unit.
“However, there was no explosion around any government premises in Lokoja as reported by some media platforms.”
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