TRAGIC: Over 100 Pipeline Vandals Die At Arepo In Ogun State

Sympathisers wept profusely in Arepo
area of Ogun State yesterday as no
fewer than 110 suspected petroleum
pipeline vandals were roasted to
death. The incident occurred along
the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) pipeline.
Leadership gathered that the vandals
were scooping fuel when it ignited
the fire, which raged for several
hours.
When this reporter visited the scene,
some survivors and other people were
seen trying to put out the inferno.
Some people could not identify the
corpses of their family members and
friends, while those who recogised
their relatives moved the bodies in
canoes.
The management of NNPC was said to
have called the policemen attached to
the Inspector General of Police Special
Task Force on Anti-Pipeline
Vandalism.
Some policemen were stranded
because of the swamp, and could not
reach the scene where corpses were
being removed.
One police officer said, “The vandals
attacked members of OPC. We were,
however, invited by NNPC to come
and secure the area while repairs will
be done on the security post. People
who were roasted in this inferno
should be 110. The best thing to use
here is helicopter because it is not
motorable”.
The newly posted officer in charge of
the taskforce, Valentine Olumese, a
Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP)
who was also at the scene, said that
the police had completed plans to
take over the protection of the area.
“The tent that was destroyed will be
repaired and access to the scene will
be created. Our men will maintain
presence.”

Source: Leadership