Impeachment: I’m Ready to Negotiate with APC Lawmakers, Says Fayose

An early morning explosion yesterday rocked a building in Lagos belonging to the Kogi State Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, trapping his wife and three others in the rubble.

The building located on HFB Way, at no 19B Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi area of Lagos, was said to have collapsed following a sudden explosion.

When the building collapsed, the three occupants in the house, including Mrs. Awoniyi were trapped, while the driver who was outside washing cars was injured from the explosion.

According to an eyewitness report, the explosion which had come out of the blue, rocked the nearby building to its foundation and was followed by the crumbling of blocks.

Although no life was lost, THISDAY gathered that the four victims, who had sustained varying degrees of injury, were rushed to the hospital immediately they were evacuated from the rubble.

Confirming the incident, the South-west Zonal Spokesperson, of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said when the building collapsed, the first line of action was to ascertain if people were trapped underneath the rubble.

He said once that was established, emergency services swung into action and were able to evacuate the four persons trapped there.

He said, “The building collapse was suspected to have been caused by gas cooker explosion around 7:15 a.m. this (yesterday) morning. The explosion and subsequent building collapse affected three occupants, who were inside the building at the time, and the driver who washing the car outside. “Although no life was lost, the four injured persons have since been evacuated to St. Maria Hospital, Yaba, for proper treatment. Currently, the Police AntiBomb Squad and Police Disaster Management Unit are working on the site to get to the root of the explosion.

“Afterwards, the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) will move in to determine the next level of action to take”, he added. In an another development, a nine-seater bus conveying passengers from the Lagos Island to the Mainland also went up in flames yesterday. The bus was said to have exploded at the Costain area, bordering between the Island and Mainland axis, and burnt its passengers.

Although all the passengers were rescued alive with varying degrees of burns, one of them was said to have given up the ghost on the way to the hospital.

in Ado Ekiti In a bid to stave off the impeachment move dangling over his head, the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has declared that he is ready to negotiate with the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers to restore peace to the state.

Speaking at a special prayer session organised for him by the Ansar-Ur- Deen Mosque, OdoOtu in Ado-Ekiti to celebrate his recent electoral victory at the Supreme Court on Friday, Fayose said he is ready to embrace political means to settling the seemingly protracted feud with the lawmakers.

Fayose, however, said he was not opposed to whatever political solution that could end the imbroglio, as long as the warring APC lawmakers also embrace such idea. “Anything peace that can bring peace cannot be wished away. For me, I’m ready to accommodate everybody. Whatever they want we can sit down and talk. There is no perfect man. They should allow peace to reign. All I want is peace that will energise development”.

But leader of the APC caucus, who also doubles as the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon Adewale Omirin, who responded to Fayose’s overtures said: “We are ready too for dialogue too, if he is ready to toe the path of peace. He is the one causing trouble. He is the one that has brought inconvenience to us and our families.

“He has stopped our salaries and other entitlements. It is not that we don’t want to work with him, but he is the one refusing to allow peace to reign in the state,” Omirin added.

Fayose said he was waving the olive branch in the overall interest of Ekiti people as well as restoration of peace.

He explained that several calls and appeals for amicable solution to the lingering crisis by eminent leaders, religious leaders as well as traditionalrulers, informed hislatest stance.

This is just as he also apologised to anyone that he may have offended one way or the other, in the course of carrying out his duties as governor to forgive him of any wrong doing and forget the past, saying only God was perfect.