OPC Exonerates Members From Bush Fire
OPC Exonerates Members From Bush Fire
01 February 2011
published by allafrica.com
Nigeria — The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State has stated that its members were not responsible for the burning of bush that led to a fatal motor accident that claimed lives of 16 people along Ibadan-Abeokuta Expressway.
Chairman of OPC in Ido Local Government Area, Muritala Adekola Ifawale, said the congress always appeal to the god of iron (Ogun) to prevent motor accidents on the Omi-Adio axis of the Ibadan-Abeokuta expressway.
The OPC leader lamented that the accident that claimed lives of innocent Nigerians happened within the community when people were still celebrating the New Year.
Muri Omi, as the OPC leader is popularly called in the area, however, added that members of the OPC in the area were not in the habit of burning bushes in search for bush meat.
He stressed the need for government, especially the authorities of the Ido Local Government Area, to educate hunters in different villages across the council on the dangers of bush burning, especially during the dry season.
Muri Omi maintained that independent investigation by OPC leadership in the Ido Local Government Area revealed that no member of the congress was involved in bush burning when the accident occurred.
He also used the opportunity to appeal to hunters in the area to be mindful of lives and property of other people whenever they are in search of bush meat.
It will be recalled that it was a dark Sunday for residents of the Omi-Adio in Ido Local Government Area penultimate Sunday as they watched helplessly as 16 people were roasted to death in a motor-accident that occurred in the area.
It was gathered that the accident, involving two commercial Liteace buses, was caused by bush burning by some hunters in the Omi-Adio community.
Victims of the motor-accident included some students of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), market women and little children. Four persons including a three-year-old boy were, however, rescued in the accident.
The survivors had been rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH) by some officials of the FRSC while the charred bodies were collected into a long container made of wood before they were conveyed by a Pick-Up belonging to the FRSC to the morgue.
