…Minister says report not true
Oscarline Onwuemenyi (Abuja) & OpeOluwani Akintayo (Lagos)
October 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Asokoro, Abuja residence of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, caught fire on Sunday evening.
It was gathered that security personnel and some first responders on the ground at the time of the incident were able to put off the fire which was caused by a suspected electrical fault in the minister’s room.
Sources familiar with the development confirmed that Kachikwu was not at home when the fire broke out.
A source said, “The minister’s residence located on the outskirts of Asokoro was gutted by fire which was caused by an electrical fault in a part of the building. He was not at home when this happened, but some mobile police officers and first responders were able to handle the situation.”
He added, “However, the important thing is that it is not a serious incident, it only affected a part of the building and I think it was his room. And like I said earlier, it was due to an electrical problem in the apartment. There is a police post close to the estate and their presence there was also instrumental.”
Reporters who visited the estate in the highbrow area of Abuja observed the presence of armed mobile security officers along the road leading to the exquisite estate where the minister resides in Asokoro.
The officers must clear any visitor coming into the estate before he or she is granted access into the area.
Kachikwu had been in the news in the past weeks, after a petition he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari against the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, was leaked to the public.
However, in a reply to SweetcrudeReports enquiries, one of the minister’s aides, simply known as Oge, debunked the story. “Untrue, please,” she replied via text message.
