The sheer number of persons burnt to death at the scene of the incident, as well as the number of vehicles that were razed down, were enough to clear the doubt that the Abaezi Forest artisanal refinery, in Ohaji/Egbama Local Council of Imo State, was a nondescript enterprise. No, it was not. How security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) feigned ignorance or looked the other way, while such a mind-boggling act of economic sabotage went on, needs to be a subject of a serious inquest at the behest of the Federal Government. “All we could do at that time, was to rush them to hospitals around for treatment, but many of them later died because they were rejected by the village health centre where we rushed them to on account of the severe burns,” Ikedi said. With tear-filled eyes, Mr. David Chibuike, a relative of one of the victims who were at site of the explosion in search of the remains of his elder sister, lamented that he returned home sadder after his inability to recognise her remains.

Source: The Guardian May 01, 2022 04:41 UTC