Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and his entourage, having descended the hills of the circuit city of Idanre where a Gala night was held to mark the grand finale of the annual tourist Mare festival, nearly got lynched at Arakale in Akure, the state capital on Saturday night.
Mimiko had allegedly gone with siren blaring-escorts to sympathise and join in efforts to rescue trapped victims and put out the raging inferno at a cooking gas depot on the busy Arakale road in the state capital.
Irate civilian rescuers had allegedly been worked up by the lack of quick response from the fire service department. Fire fighters were said to have told first responders when the gas explosion that triggered huge fire balls started that they could not come because there was neither fuel nor hydrant in their trucks to fight the fire.
Apart from the poor response and cold shoulder from confused officials, angry youths and centres of the landmark city also said that they were holding Mimiko responsible for deliberately closing his yes to the way in which a culture of corruption and nepotism has now destroyed whatever the state used to boast of in terms of proper urban and regional planning.
“The gas depot ought not to have been sited along a residential area such as Arakale. But in furtherance of the evil sectional agenda of weakening and destroying Akure, the administration continues to pack ajeles into positions for which they are not skilled or competent,” said Olu Aladenusi, who claimed to have narrowly escaped being hit by the canisters and cylinders that exploded moments after the fire started.
Olaniran Obe, a young University graduate said that he did not know that the explosions had not stopped when he joined other sympathisers in efforts at rescuing victims.
“No sooner did we begin to assist that cylinders began to lift into the air with fatal consequences, my brother, I ran. I lost my shoes. I thought I had been caught or killed, but the moment I found out that I was still running, I knew I had not died,” Obe said.
The people of Akure who charged after Mimiko also threw objects at fire fighters who came long after the fire began.
“Whatever had the symbol or look of government was our target,” said a youth who declined mentioning his name for security reasons said.
He explained that the vehicles, properties and officials of the state and federal administration have become icons of corruption. The people at the scene of the tragedy accused Mimiko of squandering resources on a “wild dream of trying to relocate the capital of Ondo state to Ondo town. He has perfected an agenda of selecting and anointing idiots and buffoons as “ajelese over Akure people”. Lately, he moved from the political turf to threatening to impose an Adesida whose mother came from Ondo as the monarch of Akure. That would be resisted. Everyone knows that it is the turn of Osupa ruling house to produce the next Deji, said one of the youths who claimed to have derived pleasure from joining to chase Mimiko away.
Soldiers from the 323 Brigade of the Nigerian Army were later drafted to the scene before things could be brought under control.
The youths said that the soldiers did not shoot at any defenceless citizen.
“Oh if they did, then we shall defy them and chase Mimiko out of Akure,” said another youth.
The casualty figure from the explosion which started at about 6.45pm was not yet clear. But an eye witness claimed that more than twenty bodies must have been removed early Sunday morning.
Another independent source said he only saw one body late Saturday night. The injured were also said to have been taken to hospitals “which are poorly equipped as Mimiko has strategically taken everything that would have assisted in managing trauma to Ondo, his native town”.
Notwithstanding, the Arakale fire is likely going to affect the future of city planning around Ondo State. A popular debate programme on the local OSRC channel had drawn attention to the danger inherent in the location of gas stations around residential buildings. While the government reacted swiftly by X-marking some structures for possible demolition, many people sent messages to the host of the programme accusing him of being meddlesome.