Radio TNT 102.5 FM

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),  on Sunday in Abuja, described the death of tens of Nigerians on Friday night in the explosion of an illegal refinery as a “catastrophe and a national disaster.”

He, consequently, directed the nation’s armed forces, security and intelligence agencies to intensify the clampdown on illegal refineries in the country.

No fewer than 100 people were killed on Friday night at around after an illegal refinery caught fire at the Abaezi community in the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.

Six vehicles were also razed during the incident which threw the community into mourning.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said the responsibility for the loss of lives and property must squarely lie with the sponsors of the illegal refinery “who must all be caught and made to face justice.”

In the statement titled, “Imo refinery deaths, a national disaster,” the President conveyed his condolences and that of the country to the families of the victims, the Ohaji Egbema community, the government and people of Imo State.

He, therefore, urged community leaders, the police, and the secret service to never allow such a heart-breaking incident to recur in any part of the country.