Four days after the explosion which occurred in Ondo State, the driver of the truck that conveyed the explosives, Mr Isiaka Yinusa, said he did not know that his vehicle carried explosive devices.
The explosion occurred on Akure-Owo Expressway, at Ilu Abo town in the Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State in the early hour of Saturday, injuring several people and destroying no fewer than 70 buildings in the community.
Yinusa, together with some other people were injured in the accident and were rushed to the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Akure, the state capital, where he had since been receiving treatment.
To this end, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operation, Mr Abdulmajid Ali, had said the IGP, Abubakar Adamu had set up a committee to unravel the cause of the explosion.
Speaking on his hospital bed, the victim said he was hired to take a consignment to Auchi, Edo State, after the vehicle that was bringing the consignment from Ibadan became faulty in Osu, Osun State. He said he was oblivious of the contents of the consignment.
He further stated that the consignment was being escorted by some policemen.
According to him, on their way to Auchi, the truck developed a fault in Akure, the Ondo State capital. He said one of the police escorts advised that they should move the vehicle away from the highly populated area, when they could not rectify the fault.
He said, “We got to Akure around 6pm and we took time to relax at Shasha market area where we planned to sleep and continue the journey the following day. So I slept inside the vehicle.
“As I was sleeping inside the truck, I heard a knock on the vehicle door by someone who informed me that smoke was coming out from under the vehicle.
“We quickly moved. The policeman that led the team said we should move ahead. As we were moving on, the policemen in the escort said that I should stop. As we got down, I saw fire coming out from the vehicle. We brought out fire extinguishers to put it out.
“As we were doing that, suddenly the policemen shouted that everybody should run. As I was running, I heard a bang and noticed something in my abdomen. That was all I knew and the next thing was that I woke up in the hospital.”
PUNCH
