Supreme Head of the Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, Solomon Adegboyega Alao, has described Abule-Ado, Lagos State explosion, which killed over 23 people and saw many injured as a national tragedy.
He condoled with the families of those who lost their loved ones and prayed God to heal the victims receiving treatments in various hospitals in Lagos and urged government to pay adequate compensation to those who lost their property to the blast.
The clergyman, in a statement by the Chief Public Relations Officer of the church, Muyiwa Adeyemi, called on the Federal Government to conduct a forensic investigation to unravel the cause of the blast and said allegation that Bethlehem High School was the main target cannot be wished away.
Alao said the ruin that has become of the school and death of some female students and their Principal, Henrietta Alokha, should be seen as a national tragedy that must be thoroughly investigated.
He said: “We are not ruling out a pipeline explosion given the manner pipeline vandals have been operating with minimal checks, after all, there was a pipeline explosion in Abule Egba in January, but the blast in Abule-Ado is more than that.
“The devastation was too much and that girls’ missionary school looks like the target.”
He also described Alokha as heroine and a classic example of how clergymen/women should be ready to sacrifice their lives to safe others. He said the reverend sister had every opportunity to escape death but she scarified her life to safe many young girls from being roasted to death.
The C and S leader called on the governments, at all levels, to work together to protect pipelines in their domain because if pipeline vandals are not checked, they will continue to put innocent lives at risk.