Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has disclosed that the mining company indicted for Tuesday’s explosion in the Bodija area of Oyo State is probably owned by foreigners.
The Governor disclosed this on Wednesday, when he featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
Makinde said an investigation into the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificate of the mining company revealed some foreign names as owners.
“We are trying to uncover the identities of the people. We’ve done a few fact-finding on the company involved and yes, there are indeed some foreign names on the CAC documents of the company involved but these are still early days. We don’t have anything to cover,” he said.
Earlier, the Governor, in a statement on Wednesday, said preliminary investigations by security agencies revealed that the explosion was caused by explosive devices stored by illegal miners.
“Preliminary investigations by the security agencies revealed that illegal miners occupying one of the houses in Bodija had stored explosive devices there, which caused the blast,” he said.
He added, “In total, we have 77 injured victims so far, most of whom were treated and discharged, and two fatalities.” However, speaking on Wednesday evening, the Governor said the death toll had risen to three as one more victim died at a hospital today.