Panic as gun shot goes off at Oyo commissioner’s swearing-in

THERE were fear and panic outside the office of the Oyo State governor on Wednesday as a gun accidentally discharged shortly after the swearing-in ceremony of the new state Commissioner for Industries, Applied Sciences and Technology, Dr Oladiti Olubanjo, injuring one person in the process.

The swearing-in ceremony could have turned into a tragedy as those who attended the ceremony were filing out of the executive chamber of the governor’s office, venue of the ceremony, when the gun went off from among the people who had gathered very close to the entrance of the governor’s office.

Confused, the gathering had scampered to safety, even while they initially had the impression that it was a case of burst tyre from one of the several vehicles packed in front of the office.

However, reality later dawned on them that it was indeed a gun that went off, even as one of the officers of the State Security Service (SSS) told the Nigerian Tribune that the gun actually went off from the pocket of the alleged owner of the gun, a local talking-drummer, who was later taken away to an undisclosed hospital in his own pool of blood.