Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has blamed the landlord of a petrol tanker for the hearth incident that burnt a number of individuals and destroyed items price hundreds of thousands of naira in Oluku, Ovia North-East Native Govt House of the state.
DAILY POST experiences that the incident passed off on Thursday afternoon, October 15, 2026.
Okpebholo, who visited the scene of the incident on Friday, October 16, 2026, blamed the tanker proprietor for bringing every other tanker to switch the gasoline with out taking the vital protection precautions.
The governor, who expressed disappointment over the incident, added that the crisis can have been have shyed away from if citizens had stayed clear of the scene of the hearth involving petroleum merchandise.
He, on the other hand, confident investors at Oluku Marketplace and others suffering from the hearth that his management would no longer abandon them.
He promised to rebuild the marketplace, which was once destroyed through the hearth, and fortify investors who misplaced their stores and items within the incident.
“We’re sorry. We, as human beings, will have to additionally take precautions on every occasion one thing like this occurs. Prior to the explosion, other people had been scooping gasoline.
“However the state and federal governments have spent some huge cash on ads to teach the general public to avoid such failures, however other people received’t concentrate,” he mentioned.
Okpebholo, who disclosed that he had spoken with the First Woman, Oluremi Tinubu, concerning the incident, famous that she expressed disappointment and sympathy with the sufferers and the households of those that misplaced their lives.
The governor additionally visited the Burns and Plastic Surgical operation Ward of the Twist of fate and Emergency Division of the College of Benin Instructing Health facility (UBTH), the place one of the sufferers had been receiving remedy.
Addressing the sufferers’ folks on the health facility, the governor reiterated the will for citizens to heed protection warnings at the risks of scooping gasoline.
He reaffirmed his management’s dedication to rebuilding the marketplace and serving to the affected investors recuperate their livelihoods.
Previous, the marketplace secretary, Blessing Itoje, appealed to the governor and his entourage for help, announcing the investors may just no longer salvage any in their items ahead of the hearth destroyed their stores and wares.
“We couldn’t even pick out anything else; the whole thing burnt to ashes. A few of us are widows, and we use our meagre profits to handle our households.
“One of the crucial investors had been admitted to health facility because of the surprise; some are on oxygen. Please, our father, a few of us are servicing loans as I talk,” she mentioned.
Some other dealer, Julie Ologbosere, additionally appealed to the governor for fortify, announcing the investors have been left with not anything.