GOVT LAUNCHES MANHUNT OF ILLEGAL OIL REFINERY OWNERS IN IMO; ORGANIZES MASS BURIAL FOR VICTIMS
REPORTER: CHINAZO ILECHUKWU
As death toll continues to rise in the fire explosion that rocked the illegal crude oil refinery located at a forest in Abaezi Community of Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State last Friday, a manhunt of the owners of such businesses in the area has been launched by the state government.
The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Declan Emelumba, who stated this in Owerri said those behind the inferno, which claimed over one hundred lives, must be arrested and prosecuted.
Radio Nigeria gathered that four vehicles and a motorcycle that were apparently waiting to load petroleum products out of the forest were also burnt during the incident.
Reports also indicate that pipeline vandalism and illegal refining of crude oil at Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State have countinued unabated despite efforts by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, who had at one time or the other invaded some of the illegal refineries and destroying facilities on ground after arresting those caught within the vicinity.
The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Declan Emelumba, said, though government frowned at the oil bunkering, it had expressed deep sympathy to families of those who lost their lives to the inferno.
He said following a directive by the Federal Government, a committee earlier set up by the state government to stamp out illegal oil refineries in the state would now collaborate with federal agencies to end the illicit business.
The Head of Operations National Emergency Management Agency in Imo State, Mr. Ifeanyi Nnaji, said over one hundred bodies of the victims who were burnt beyond recognition would be given mass burial as the corpses were already decomposing.
An Indigene of the area, Prince Stephen Lemachi, who described the incident as unfortunate, decried army of unemployed youths in the oil bearing communities and called on community leaders to engage with the oil companies operating in the area to ensure the people are gainfully employed.
Another indigene of the area, Mr. Destiny Isinwa, wondered why oil bunkering had persisted despite the presence of security agencies, who mounted road blocks in the area.
The lawmaker representing Ohaji Egbema Constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Heclus Okoro, who expressed sadness over the loss, noted that more than one hundred and seventy lives had so far been lost to crude oil vandalism in the area.
Chief Okoro advised youths of the area to desist from oil bunkering, noting that there was no justification for any act of economic sabotage.
