Just five days after a lethal pipeline fire that murdered over a dozen individuals in Ijegun town, north of Lagos, community inhabitants have foiled another pipeline vandalism.
Ijegun, which has been experiencing recurrent pipeline vandalism since May 2008, is in Lagos State’s Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area.
A Nigeria News Agency (NAN) reporter in the region noted that citizens rose to the occasion and foiled what would have been another lethal explosion on Tuesday after vandals tried to open a pipeline at a community market.
Speaking on the development, the Divisional Police Officer at the Isheri Oshun Police Station, Rafiu Akinlade, told NAN that policemen responded immediately they were alerted on the vandalism.
“As soon a call got to me from the community, I immediately sent out my team but on getting there, the vandals had abandoned their tools and fled.
“However, my men have collected all the tools and pipes they came with for their operation.
“Although we are yet to apprehend the vandal, investigation is going on,” Mr Akinlade told NAN.
A Ijegun community resident, Victor Mbuba, informed NAN that when they heard screams, citizens became apprehensive, prompting scores of individuals to begin removing their possessions.
“The smell was thick and this caused panic and fear of another explosion because the memory of the immediate past inferno was still shocking.’’
Another resident, a student Vitalis Okonkwo, informed NAN that after shouting in the neighborhood, his family ran out to safety.
“When we ‘perceived’ the fuel split all over the area, we ran out along with others in the neighbourhood for fear of being trapped in another explosion.
“Most people are yet to return for fear of another explosion because anything can happen. Nobody wants a repeat of the July 4 explosion,” he said.
His neighbor, Bridget Umeorah, called on the government of the Lagos State to provide safety in the region in order to prevent vandalism in the pipeline.
A pipeline explosion happened in the Ijegun community on May 25, 2008, when an oil pipeline was destroyed by a truck used in road rehabilitation, triggering a fire outbreak estimated at millions of naira that murdered many individuals and damaged property.
In oil-bearing Nigeria, oil pipeline vandalism is widespread, perpetrated primarily by unscrupulous people trying to make a living. (NAN)