FACT CHECK: Seun Kuti claims there’s fuel tanker explosion every week in Nigeria; is this true?

On June 27, Seun Kuti, Afrobeat singer and son of the late music legend Fela Kuti, said Nigeria has witnessed at least one fuel tanker explosion every week in 2021.

He made the claim while speaking on a programme on Channels Television.

“Every week this year, we have had a tanker explosion. Let me just use the tanker explosions as an instance of how the press and professionals of Nigeria continue to fail the people. Every week this year, one tanker has exploded in one place in Nigeria,” Kuti said.

“To the extent that one tanker even exploded right in the city of Ikeja in front of Sheraton Hotel, killed people and destroyed businesses there. You will never hear the media say: ‘Billionaire owners of tankers are killing Nigerians or ‘Billionaire tanker owners are terrorists’. You will never hear that.”

VIDEO: Every week this year, there has been a tanker explosion says Seun Kuti

📹 ~ @channelstv #RubbinMinds #TheCableLifestyle pic.twitter.com/qrFUVXVKY6

— CableLifestyle (@CableLifestyle) July 9, 2021

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HOW TRUE IS THE MUSICIAN’S CLAIM?

Fire outbreaks tend to be one of the most dangerous disasters because they often end in loss of lives and property.

TheCable analysed media reports of fuel tanker explosions in Nigeria since the year began.

JANUARY

January 7 – A tanker, loaded with premium motor spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, caught fire at Toyota bus stop along Oshodi-Apapa expressway in Lagos.

January 19 – Three persons were confirmed dead and others injuried in a tanker explosion  in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital.

January 23 – A gas tanker explosion in Agbor, Delta state killed a woman and three children while severely burning 11 others.

FEBRUARY

February 7 – 11 people, including three Almajiri children, were killed in an oil tanker explosion that occurred in Gawu area of Abaji LGA of Abuja.

February 11 – No fewer than four people were killed in a fuel tanker explosion at SOBAZ filling station in Oyigbo LGA of Rivers state.

February 12– A truck driver was burnt to death in a diesel tanker explosion at Atoyo, along Ijebu Ode-Ogbere expressway in Ogun.

MARCH

March 21 – Many vehicles were burnt in a diesel tanker explosion at Otedola Bridge on Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

March 27– Petrol tanker collided with a truck at Otedola Bridge on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, causing an explosion which gutted seven vehicles.

APRIL

April 13 – Many people injured in a gas tank explosion which rocked Amuwo-Odofin LGA of Lagos state.

April 18 – A fuel tanker exploded at Oshigbudu community in Agatu LGA of Benue state, killing 13 people and over 50 houses were said to have been razed.

April 20  – Barely 48 hours after the April 18 incident which claimed many lives, another petrol-laden tanker exploded in the same Benue community.

MAY

May 22 –  At least 64 persons were reported to have sustained various degrees of injuries as a petrol tanker exploded at the Al-ihsan filling station at Sharada in Kano municipal area of Kano state.

May 25 – No deaths and zero properties destroyed as a diesel-laden tanker went up in flames at Banire bus-stop, Egbeda inward Ikotun, Lagos.

May 28 –  A tanker conveying petrol caught fire at the Otedola Bridge on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, but there were no casualties.

JUNE

June 16 –  Seven people died while two persons sustained injuries in a petrol tanker explosion at Ajilete axis of the Owode-Idiroko road in Ogun.

June 17 – The explosion of a leaking gas tanker at the Ogun State Property Investment Company (OPIC) Plaza beside Sheraton Hotel, Mobolaji Bank Anthony way, Ikeja, resulted in the death of five people, burnt 24 vehicles, while 13 other persons sustained injuries.

June 22 – Six tankers, five trucks, and two cars were destroyed in a fuel tanker explosion at Romona trailer park, Ogere axis of Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

The data shows that there have been 17 tanker explosions across different states of the country in six months.

TheCable reached out to Kuti to ask for the source of his claim but he did not respond to calls and messages.

VERDICT: Kuti’s claim that fuel tanker explosions have occurred every week in 2021 is misleading. While there has been an uptick in explosions in recently, the incidents did not happen every week. It can be said that Kuti’s claim is an exaggerated statement that was uttered on the spur of the moment.