Whether the explosion was caused by bomb or gas, what happened has already happened – Kano SEMA boss

The Executive Secretary, Kano State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Saleh Jili, has said that it doesn’t matter whether Tuesday’s explosion was caused by gas or bomb.

Jili stated this while speaking with Arise News on the explosion that claimed nine lives and injured many in Sabon Gari, Fagge Local Government Area of the state.

Residents of the area are dismissing the statements by the State Government and the Police Command that the explosion was caused by gas cylinder, insisting that a suicide bomber detonated explosive devices.

However, SEMA executive secretary, Jili, said that the only thing that mattered was that the incident has happened.

“When the explosion happened, people were so anxious to come and see what happened, and so the place was so overcrowded. There was a building which was about to collapse, so our attention then was to get an excavator to ensure the building didn’t fall on the general public. So that’s what we were busy doing,” he said.

“The building now collapsed and the issue of whether it’s a cylinder or not is not our own priority then. Our priority was to rescue the people who are inside the building that collapsed.

“So now the government will set up a committee to fully investigate the actual cause of the explosion. So it doesn’t matter whether the welder was using electricity or gas cylinder. The investigation will show whether he was using electricity or not. But all we are saying is that it’s not a bomb blast,”

“People can say anything because they want negative thinking. But if it’s a bomb blast, and it has already happened, what is the interest there? Why do people insist it must be a bomb blast? What happened has already happened. Who were wounded were wounded. Whether it was a gas explosion or a bomb blast, what’s the interest of the general public? What benefit do we have?” he added.