By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
The explosion that rocked Idoji area of Okene, the headquarters of Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State on Thursday, has killed one person and injured 13 others.
The Correspondent of The Reporters gathered that the explosion occurred at 6 p.m when the people were celebrating the popular annual echane festival and masquerades were entertaining large crowd of audience.
The online publication further reports that the latest explosion in Okene came few days when a similar explosion occurred in a beer parlour in Kabba, killing three persons and others were injured.
Sources said the noise of the explosion was heard far and near in Okene, adding that a man lost his life while 13 others sustained various degrees of injury.
The deceased was said to have died when being rushed to Okengwen General hospital for treatment.
Those whose injuries were serious were referred to Lokoja for much better treatment.
The Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO) for the Police Command in the state of,SP William Ovye Aya, who confirmed the story in a telephone with the Reporters, said that normalcy had returned to the area.
According to him,the Commissioner of Police, in charge of the command,CP Edward Egbuka, had deployed anti-bomb squad to the scene of the explosion to unravel the cause of the incident.
Our Correspondent recalls that the Okene incident came barely two weeks ago after the second incident in Kabba. The second incident injured others and destroyed property but no death.
However,some members of the public, such as Michael Alabi, Mathew Adedoyin and Ismail Alli, who expressed concern over explosion in some parts of the state, in a separate interview with our Correspondent, called on the state government and security agencies to redouble efforts in the checking the ugly incident.
They said their call became very necessary, especially now that 2023 general election is gathering momentum.
