NNPC Pipeline Explodes As Vandals Load Petroleum Products

MICHAEL AKINOLA

There was pandemonium this morning at Ijegun area of Lagos over the vandalisation of pipelines by vandals who brought tankers to load petroleum products and the area caught fire over spillage.

P.M.EXPRESS gathered that the vandals ruptured the pipeline and used tankers to load petroleum products early Thursday morning, left the broken pipe open which caused the products to flow to the streets around the area and eventually there was outbreak of fire.

As at the time of filing this report, there was no record of death yet but the fire incident had caused serious panic in the area. The residents were forced to abandon their homes and properties and ran helter-skelter for safety. The fire continued to spread until the fire fighters arrived and controlled it from further spreading to the whole area.

It was gathered that the officials of the NNPC were contacted and it was not confirmed if they have controlled the situation from their end.

According to the residents, what surprised many was that some security agents were attached to the area yet the vandals had their way, tampered with the pipeline, loaded the petroleum products and escaped. Some residents suspected that the security agents attached to the pipeline might have a hand in the whole illegal arrangement which would have caused serious havoc in the area.

It was not the first time such incident was happening in Lagos; recently, at the Ejigbo pipeline, vandals did the same thing, escaped and left the broken pipe open and there was spillage of petroleum products before the NNPC intervened and repaired the broken pipe.
The memory of Abule Egba area was still in the mind of the people; when the pipeline caught fire, killed many people and destroyed properties worth millions of Naira which was reportedly caused by vandals.
There has not been any official response by any of the security agents before our correspondent left the area this morning.