A HUGE explosion rocked a section of the Trans Niger Pipeline in Bodo Community, Gonna Local Government Area of Rivers State on Monday, March 17.
The blast occurred late in the night around the Bodo-Bonny Road currently under construction.
Balls of fire spread rapidly through the mangrove, with thick black smoke billowing in the air, as seen in videos of the explosion that surfaced online in the early hours of Tuesday, March 18.
The fire affects the Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP), a critical oil supply line serving the Bonny Export Terminal in Rivers State.
The cause of the explosion remains unknown as of press time.
Some groups had recently threatened to attack oil installations in the Niger-Delta region in response to the Supreme Court ruling which directed the Federal Government to withhold Rivers State’s allocation amid the political stalemate in the state.
In a chat with The ICIR, the police spokesperson in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko, could not immediately confirm the cause of the fire. She promised to get back to this organisation after making enquiries.
The ICIR reported that the political crisis in Rivers State climaxed on Monday when the House of Assembly served the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, a notice of gross misconduct.
The House members, who have been at loggerheads with the governor, claimed the accusation was in tandem with the Nigerian Constitution.
The lawmakers accused Fubara of misusing public funds, obstructing the Assembly, and making unauthorised appointments without proper screening and confirmation.
Others include the withholding lawmakers’ salaries, allowances, and seizure of salaries of the Assembly’s clerk, Emeka Amadi.
They also accused the deputy governor of plotting and supporting the illegal appointment into offices/positions in the Rivers State Government without following due process.
Recall that the power struggle between the governor and the Amaewhule-led Assembly reached its peak after the Supreme Court’s judgment, which ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation to withhold Rivers State’s statutory allocation.
It also annulled the recent local government election conducted in the state by Fubara.
Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have been at loggerheads over who controls the PDP structure in the state.
A reporter with the ICIR
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