...As mining coy refuse to vacate village despite revocation of its licence
A Save Our Soul (S.O.S) plea has gone out to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the indigenes and residents of Ilate Etido, Mowe in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State over the untold hardship and suffering the people are going through in the hands of illegal miners on their land.
The people and indigenes of Ilate Etido who trooped out en masse recently to their Village Square to protest the debilitating activities of these illegal miners described the posturing, activities and modus operandi of these miners as not only unbearable but also gradually seeping out the life of the community.
Speaking with newsmen, a woman leader in the village, Mrs Ayinke Taiwo bemoaned the activities of the illegal miners whose activities she described as "destructive to the well being of the people and indigenes of the village".
Also chorusing in pitiable voices, the protesters which included aged women, little children ,youths and old men cried "No more Ojibabs, No more dredging, Ilate must have freedom! We don't have good market, electricity, Health centre, we lack social amenities".
" Our people are dying, We need freedom! We are hungry. We don't have potable water, No school, Our farmlands have been damaged and our sources of living destroyed", they lamented.
An aged woman while showing her pitiable condition, said her cocoa farms have been destroyed as they can no longer go to the farms as a result of attacks and threats to their lives by Ojibabs Nigeria Limited owned by one Mr. Babatunde Tajudeeen Abioye.
Also in an interview, the Baale of Ilate Etido, Chief Samsideen Akintunde Ajibawo said he has written series of letters to the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals, Cadastral Mining office, Office of the Inspector General of Police, Chief of Naval Staff and Ministry of Mines,Ogun State over the activities of these led by Tajudeeen Babatunde Abioye.
The Baale noted that Tajudeeen Babatunde Abioye has constituted himself into a law in the village, refusing to follow any procedure and has not shown the authority or consent obtained for his grandfather's land"
‘’We also discovered when we went to Abuja that his operating licence had been revoked yet he refused to leave the community, boasting that he has acquired all the land in Ilate Etido and that the indigenes should vacate the land for him.
"This is a man who came from Osun State. An indigene of Osun state, yet he has been operating the business for the past fifteen years.
" Our forefathers didn't sign any agreement with him, and if he had been going about with one, they are forged documents.
" He has been maltreating the indigenes for a very long time, harassing them, using thugs, and bribing to get them locked up unlawfully.
"I , as the Baale of the village can no longer be in the midst of my people as my life is seriously being threatened.
"I am therefore appealing to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the concerned authorities to come to our rescue and save our souls from the clutches of Tajudeen Babatunde Abioye, popularity knowns as TJ of Holland and his Chinese partners.
" My people no longer feel safe on their own land, their source of food for survival destroyed and I have been the one donating food items, making provision for boreholes for them, among others essentials for living" Baale Samsideen Ajibawo lamented.
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