Suspected dynamite explosion has killed the chairman of Agadama community, simply identified as Sunday Iniovogoma, while many others sustained various degrees of injury in Uwheru Kingdom, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State
Sources from the community disclosed that the chairman was asleep when the unfortunate incident occurred and part of the building was shattered by the explosion.
A community source disclosed that, before the explosion, Iniovogoma had received a call from some unknown persons whom he had earlier denied audience.
It will be recalled that the late chairman played an active role in the campaign against armed Fulani herdsmen who killed ten farmers in the community in February.
When contacted, Delta State police public relations officer, DSP Onome Onowakpoyeya, said, “I will get back to you now” and she never did as at the time of this report.
But a senior police officer attached to Ughelli Area Command confirmed the incident, adding that his corpse had just been taken to the mortuary.
When our reporter visited the Ughelli Central Hospital, the deceased was yet to be deposited in the morgue as youths were in mourning mood.
According to another source who spoke on condition of anonymity, “The incident occurred at about 12:30p.m, adding that some other persons whom were around the house when the explosion occurred sustained some degrees of injuries.
“He was sleeping in his bedroom inside his house when the blast occurred. The suspects gained entrance into his bedroom through the children’s room and it appears that the perpetrators of the act apparently threw the dynamite into his bedroom while he was sleeping and it exploded damaging part of the building and killed the chairman.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of commuters travelling to riverine communities in Bomadi, Burutu local government areas of Delta State and parts of Bayelsa State were Saturday seen stranded as youths from Agadama community barricaded the Uwheru/Bomadi road in protest over the death of the chairman.
The youths who reportedly destroyed windscreens of some vehicles later left the road following the arrival of a team of policemen mobilised to restore calm to the area