Former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed deep sadness over the gas factory fire in Nnewi, Anambra State, which claimed scores of lives and destroyed properties.
In a press statement released by his media office in Abuja on Saturday, the former Vice President said that the accident was the more agonising because it came at a time when the victims like other Nigerians were looking forward to celebrating with their families and friends at the Yuletide and Eid-el-Maulud celebrations.
He recalled that Nnewi in Anambra State has recently been growing as a busy and dynamic commercial and industrial enclave boosting the economy of the nation and providing employment for its teeming population.
According to him, the economic progress being witnessed in the area is one that every patriotic Nigerian and the Federal Government wishes and supports for other towns in the country.
Therefore, he said the unfortunate and grim gas fire accident should not be allowed to dampen the enthusiasm and entrepreneurial drive of the people towards industrialisation and progress.
Rather, he called on the state and local governments, business community, and entrepreneurs in the area to take the issue of industrial safety and accident prevention and management seriously.
The Turaki Adamawa noted that accidents like the one that took place at the Inter Corp Oil Limited gas facility is a fact of life in industrial and industrialising societies and called for more vigilance and readiness among agencies in the emergency sector of the economy.
Atiku extended his heartfelt condolence to the families and relations of the victims, the Anambra State government and people, and Nigerians at large.
He prayed for the peaceful repose of the soul of the victims and expressed the hope that such a gruesome accident would not happen again.
The former Vice President also sent his heartfelt condolences to Lamido of Adamawa, HRH Barkindo Mustapha, over the death of his mother, Hajiya Adda Gombeji, who passed away at the age of 87 a few days ago peacefully at her residence in Yola, Adamawa State.
Atiku praised the late Lamido’s mother for the enviable and spectacular role she played in the life of the Lamido and in the life of the people of the people of Adamawa all through the period of her eventful life.
He recalled the many sacrifices borne by the late Lamido’s mother which translated to better communal relations not only among the people of Adamawa but also among the people of the different ethnic groups that live and work in Adamawa adding that the late Lamido’s mother lived an exemplary life and a life of service.
