Chairman killed, police inspector’s eyes blinded, leg shattered as bomb rocks Lagos

*Police, eye witnesses disagree over cause of explosion

The chairman of Miracle Beach Sand Association was blown to pieces and the leg of a policeman shattered and his eyes blinded when an explosion suspected to be a bomb exploded at the festac under bridge area of Lagos.

The chairman identified as Chief Oladele Pius a.k.a Apase was said to have been killed instantly as the bomb exploded. His legs and arms were flung to different directions, while his intestines were also splattered and scattered to different parts.

The policeman, who allegedly came to visit him and collect some money from him, was caught in the explosion. One of his legs shattered, and his one eye blinded.

Immediately the explosion occurred, members of the association on ground had immediately descended on the wounded police thinking he was the person who detonated the bomb.

They however released him after he showed them his phone call records, insisting that he came to the beach on the request of the chairman.

An eye witness Adeola Peters who sells sand and is a member of the association said ‘this incident happened at about 11 a.m. he arrived at 10 a.m. parked his white jeep and went to eat. The policeman is his friend. He used to give police people money. He gave the policeman friend 5,000 naira and then sat on the fence. Our chairman who we call baba has a point he used to sit. Everybody knows that. Nobody dares sit on his space. Whosoever planted the bomb knows this. Not up to five minutes after he sat down, the bomb exploded! There was another policeman on ground. He started crying that his benefactor was dead. He said that last year when he was trying to get accommodation, the chairman gave him 50,000 naira

It was gathered from peters that after the explosion, anti bomb policemen who dashed to the scene discovered that strings of electrical wires running from lagoon were attached to the seat fence which had become Pius’s seat.

He added that just two weeks ago, Pius bought his pathfinder white jeep marked LSR 957 AZ.

He stressed that there was no power tussle in their union since the post of the chairmanship was not open to rotation or vote. Pius had always been the chairman and this had been for more than 10 years now.

The suspected bomb device was taken away by anti bomb policemen for investigation.

According to the commissioner of police Prince Umar Manko, “I want to make it categorically clear that it was not bomb explosion. But there was an electrical default that went to the extent of making such a loud noise. One chief Pius was killed. Also one Akin Sunday an Inspector of Police attached to Festac Police Station was affected. Pius died in the hospital while Akin Sunday is still receiving treatment. We are looking into the issue. It’s not an attack from Boko Haram as people are speculating. We want Lagosians to know that Lagos is safe. It was an electrical default somewhere. Lagosians are free to go about their businesses. Lagos is not under attack.”