The explosion in at the Marque Event Centre, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), has raised fears in some quarters concerning the safety of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Though the explosion has been linked to fake air conditioning gas and not bomb, and though the former President was not in his residence or on in the state at the time of the blast, there is still apprehension that concerning the safety of the Owu Chief.
Chief Obasanjo is a known critic of the current administration as he was of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.
His public letters to the two leaders have caused serious concerns. Indeed, his letters to Jonathan are said to be part of what led to the ouster of the PDP government by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
His letters to Buhari have also ruffled feathers and elicited harsh responses from Presidential spokespersons.
Before now, Obasanjo had a close shave with death during the General Sanni Abacha dictatorship when he was accused of being part of a plot to topple the junta with late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and other then serving military officers.
General Yar’Adua died in detention while Obasanjo managed to make it out alive.
Recently, the Buhari Presidency released a statement alerting the world of a plot by “disgruntled religious and past political leaders” to “wreak havoc on the government, sovereignty and corporate existence of the country,” with the intention “to eventually throw the country into a tailspin, which would compel a forceful and undemocratic change of leadership.”
The statement, by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), had further alleged that part of the strategy of the plotters is to convene “some sort of conference, where a vote of no confidence would be passed on the President, thus throwing the land into further turmoil.”
Noting that “the agent provocateurs hope to achieve through artifice and sleight of hands, what they failed to do through the ballot box in the 2019 elections,” the statement had pointed out that “Nigerians have opted for democratic rule, and the only accepted way to change a democratically elected government is through elections, which hold at prescribed times in the country. Any other way is patently illegal, and even treasonable. Of course, such would attract the necessary consequences.”
Though the Presidency did not name names, a top former political office holder told Global Patriot Newspapers, GPNews (online) that Chief Obasanjo, an internationally recognized statesman had been planning a conference for May 29, 2021 on the state of the nation.
There has not, however, been any independent confirmation that such a conference was planned or is being planned.
Kehinde Akinyemi, Spokesman for Chief Obasanjo, told GPNews that he was “not aware” of any such conference, that it has not been brought to his notice.
Also, Chief Kenny Martins, Chief Obasanjo’s in-law, also said that he was not aware of any such conference, pointing out that he (Chief Martins) spoke with the former Army General yesterday (Thursday) to sympathize with him over the explosion in his complex.
Chief Martins said that the explosion could not have been an attempt to intimidate Chief Obasanjo as there had been at least four to five such explosions in Abeokuta alone in the past one week.
He insisted that it is possible that some fake gas is in circulation and called on the relevant authorities to immediately investigate the source of the gas in use in the Abeokuta axis to ascertain its wholesomeness.
A staff of the OOPL, who pleaded anonymity, had told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the explosion at the Event Centre in Obasanjo’s complex occurred when technicians were topping up gas into the Air Condition (AC).
A NAN Correspondent who visited the scene had also reported that men of the Anti-Bomb squad of the Ogun Police Command were seen combing the place.
NAN in its story, also recalled that a similar incident had occurred on Tuesday, when two people died in a gas explosion at the Conference Hotel on Presidential Boulevard, Abeokuta, owned by Chief Gbenga Daniel, a former governor of Ogun state and a recent decampee from the PDP to the APC.
There have been incidents of insecurity in different parts of the country, especially by insurgents, bandits, herdsmen and unknown gunmen.
May 29 is celebrated as Democracy Day, the day that the country returned to democratic rule after several years of military rule and different individuals and groups make statements concerning the state of the nation on that day while governments also mark the day, depending on the mood of the nation, with different activities.
