Three weeks after the Federal Government ordered the closure of an illegal mining site being operated by some persons at Ilate Etido Community in Obafemi – Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, armed land grabbers, on Friday, invaded the community unleashing terror on the villagers.
According to the Baale of Ilate Etido Community, Chief Samsudeen Akintunde Ajibawo, the two parties involved in the issues, Ilate Etido Community and DePass, were invited to Abuja on Thursday by the Federal Government and both parties were told that the site remained closed.
The Baale stated, “On Thursday, Ilate Etido Community and Depass met in Abuja on the orders of the Ministry of Mining. We were addressed by the Director of Mines, Abuja, who told us that the Federal Government has sealed the site since they have seen that Ojbabs doesn’t have the documents to operate at the site and that Ojbabs should never go there to operate again and that anybody, including me or the community, should not go there.
“To our surprise this morning, land grabbers armed with dangerous weapons on the orders of Ojbabs invaded the community, beat and, wounded many innocent residents of the community who were on peacefully protesting, while others were hounded into the bush.”
The land grabbers said to have invaded the community on motorcycles (Okada), dismantled the blockades, and forcefully broke the locks leading to the site and resumed their illegal mining activities.
He continued, “They have started dredging again and loading trucks with sand at the site.
“I humbly call on the Federal Government and the Ogun State to deploy security personnel back to the site at Ilate Etido Community so as to save us from another attack from the hands of the land grabbers acting on orders of Ojbab,” the Baale pleaded.
