BODIJA EXPLOSION: COURT ORDERS VICTIM TO COMMISSION PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, TO UNRAVEL CAUSE OF DISASTER

A Chief Magistrate court sitting in Iyaganku, Ibadan has granted an order for leave of court to commission a private investigator to investigate and come up with a report on the immediate and remote cause(s) of the January 16, 2024 explosion which rocked the Bodija area of Oyo state.

Mrs. O.O Ogunkanmi gave the order while ruling on a Motion on notice, brought before the court, by one of the victims of the January 2024, Bodija explosion, The Incorporated Trustees of Majeobaje Community Development Initiative, (Applicant) against the Incorporated Trustees of Bodija Estate Residents Association - BERA, (Respondent).

The court directed the applicant to appoint a retired police officer and a private investigator, to investigate and come up with a report on the immediate and remote cause(s) of the Bodija explosion.

It will be recalled that the explosion which extensively destroyed properties worth billions of naira also claimed several lives.

The Incorporated trustee(s) of Majeobaje community development Initiative had dragged the respondent, Bodija Estate Residents Association, before the court, having been dis-satisfied with the seeming lackadaisical attitude of the Bodija Estate Residents Association, which the applicant, (Incorporated trustees of Majeobaje community development initiative) is an active and financially committed member, in informing victims and residents of the immediate and remote cause of the said explosion, which has grounded the activities of the applicant as a result of the extensive damage done to it's property.

Counsel to the incorporated trustee of the Majeobaje community development Initiative, Adetoun Akwarandu informed the court that this action of the respondent negates the spirit and letters of paragraph 2, of the constitution of the Bodija Estate Residents Association which clearly states as part of its aims and objective; to include, taking adequate steps to protect and secure the of lives and properties of residents of the estate and members of the association, hence the need to seek the leave of court, in order to commission a retired police officer from the Nigerian Police Force, and an experienced private investigator to commence investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the explosion.

Speaking with Zynga News, president, Majeobaje community development Initiative, Chief Akintayo Akin-Deko, said it has become an embarrassing situation that up till the time they approached the court, everybody has been in the dark on the remote cause(s) of the dastard incident.

He said the motive of the Majeobaje community development Initiative is to unravel the immediate and remote cause(s) of the explosion and mitigate against reoccurrence of such in the future.

"Bodija estate and environs is an heritage bequeathed on us by our fore-fathers and we are all stakeholders in the Oyo state project, hence it behoves on us to see to it that no form of conformist action is tolerated within our domain and the state in general, he stated.