The President, Muhammadu Buhari has directed the nation’s armed forces, security and intelligence agencies to intensify the clampdown on illegal refineries.
Buhari’s directives followed reported deaths of tens of people in an explosion that rocked an illegal crude oil refinery in Abaezi forest, Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.
Describing the incident as a catastrophe and national disaster, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said the responsibility for the loss of lives and property must squarely lie with the sponsors of the illegal refinery, “who must all be caught and made to face justice.”
In conveying “the condolences and the full depth and range of the nation’s shock and trauma” to the families of the victims, the Ohaji Egbema community and the government and people of Imo State, the President urged community leaders, the police and the secret service to never allow the occurrence of the heart-breaking incident in any part of the country again.
