Ahead of the yuletide, the Ebonyi State government, yesterday, has placed a ban on sale and use of fireworks popularly known as knockout, anywhere within the state.
The development came as a result of an explosion that rocked one of the schools in the state, Glory Land High School, Azugwu, on Thursday and which shattered the left arm of an SS2 student identified as Chibuike, while leaving many other students injured. Saturday Sun gathered that the incident caused fear and pandemonium around the area. But yesterday the state government announced that investigations revealed that the explosion was caused by careless application of fireworks by the students.
Addressing newsmen in Abakaliki, Special Assistant to Governor, David Umahi, on Media, Francis Nweze, warned that henceforth anyone caught in possession of fireworks would be arrested and prosecuted.
When His Excellency received the message about alleged bomb explosion in one of the secondary schools in the state, he was shocked,” he said.
And he gave immediate directive for further investigation about that. It was later found out that it was a mere knockout.
As a result of this, His Excellency has banned the use of knockout in the state, especially in this festive period. He gave the directive this afternoon and that is the stand of the governor.
“When the governor gives a directive, it is expected that the general public should obey it, if they don’t, any person caught will face the full wrath of the law and the government disciplinary committee.”
THE SUN, NIGERIA