Beer parlour owner, 10 others hospitalised in Kogi explosion

Barely a month after an explosion killed some people at a beer parlour in Kabba, headquarters of Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State, a similar incident has been recorded in the town. Daily Trust learnt that a place called Obafemi Bar on Oke Padi axis of Kabba was hit Sunday night. Although the cause […]

Barely a month after an explosion killed some people at a beer parlour in Kabba, headquarters of Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State, a similar incident has been recorded in the town.

Daily Trust learnt that a place called Obafemi Bar on Oke Padi axis of Kabba was hit Sunday night. Although the cause of the explosion was yet to be fully established, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, SP William Aya, said no casualty was recorded.

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He said the state’s Commissioner of Police, Edward Egbuka, had drafted the anti-bomb squad to the area to determine the actual cause of the explosion.

Meanwhile, the management of Kabba General Hospital says it has received no fewer than 11 injured persons, including the owner of the bar, Mrs Omofemi Oyehunwa.

Dr Ibrahim Sule, Head of X-Ray Unit of the hospital disclosed this Monday evening to journalists in Kabba.

Sule added that other victims had received medication and had been discharged except Oyehunwa who remained in the hospital for further test.

“We have to take her into the X-Ray Unit for her to undertake a test on her buttocks to be sure there is no any foreign object in her body.

“She is out of the X-Ray Unit, walking by herself, which shows that she’s fast recovering from the injury she sustained on her buttocks,” he said.

The President of Kabba Development Union, Mr Emmanuel Ajibero, who visited the scene of the blast and the bar owner in her hospital bed, decried the explosion.

“This explosion that occurred the second time in this Kabba town in a space of 18 days is callous and unacceptable to us, the citizens of Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area.

“We want the government and the security agencies to rise to the occasion and do something drastic about these attacks and secure our lives and property from criminal elements,” Ajibero pleaded.

Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman of Kabba/Bunu Local Government, Moses Olorunleke, has ordered that all beer parlour in Kabba should be closed by 7pm.

He also directed commercial motorcycle operators popularly called Okada riders to suspend their activities by 10pm.

On May 11, an explosion rocked a beer parlour at Lewu Junction, still in Kabba, killing two people. The police had attributed the incident to a gas cylinder but residents said it was a bomb explosion.

Similar attacks were recorded in Taraba State last month. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) later claimed responsibility.