A cross section of Ife indigenous have expressed their fear that Ife and its neighboring communities may be in serious danger in the near future if the activities of the miners are not quickly checked especially as the latest tremor occurred just some 108 to 113 kilometers away from Ile-Ife.
Some prominent and highly placed individuals in Ife are notorious for being behind indiscriminate mining and gruesome plundering of Ife land without an iota of consideration for people's lives, properties and well being.
Though many of these individuals have been indicted on allegations bordering on criminal cheating, breach of trust, forgery and receiving under false pretense, amongst others, and one would expect a government that has so much adumbrated on her resolve and determination to fight corruption to act positively and set a good example since no one is above the law.
The fear of possible earthquake was further heightened by the report which stated that the fault mechanism along Ifewara-Zungeru Trans-current Fault system due to Interpolate seismic was deduced and the fault system is active.
One of the people interviewed, Prince Olalekan Eluyera decried the silence of the Osun State government over the issue of mining in Ile-Ife and its environs. “if you pass though Ilode and also visit Ifewara and the nearby villages, you will see the level of environmental damage these foreign miners have caused while digging for minerals. We daily live in fear of earthquake because these people have really dug deep into the earth in search of minerals.”
Another landlord in the Ilode part of Ife, Elder Kunle Omisakin also criticized the manner which miners conduct their businesses. “These foreign miners go about their businesses with no recourse to other peoples’ properties or the level of damage being done to the earth. Most of the things they do here and get away with, no foreigner can do it in their countries. One cannot blame them, the blame rests squarely on the government which has refused to act and their collaborators who are intent on selling off the common heritage of Ife people to foreigners.”
It would be recalled that there had been different outcries in Ile-Ife and the environs in the past over the activities of miners and the attendant effect on the lives and properties of Ife people of the ancient community.
The latest anxiety being expressed was caused as a result of the preliminary report on the 5th of June earth tremor which was signed by Professor Adekunle Abraham Adepelumi, a professor of Geophysics from the Department of Geology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
The report titled: PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 5th JUNE, 2021 EARTH-TREMOR RECORDED AT THE OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE-IFE, OSUN STATE, NIGERIA stated that
An earth-tremor of low magnitude occurred in Nigeria at 11:11:25.6 am (GMT) on 5th June, 2021. The origin time is 11:11.08.2 am (GMT) (Figures 1 to 3).
The estimated epicenter distance (D) is placed between 108 and 113 km away from the measuring station at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
The S wave particle motion generally trends N – S and NE - SW (Figure 4). This suggests that the wave is traveling perpendicular to the particle motion. Hence, the epicenter is somewhere along the NW-SE direction of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
Using Single Station, the epicenter is roughly placed closed to Omu-Aran. Kwara State at Latitude (Y) 8o06’18.0’ N, and Longitude (X) 4o59’20.4’ E (Figures 5 to 7).
The estimated focal depth is 15.0 km.
The Moment magnitude (Mw) is 2.6 on the Richter scale.
The Local magnitude (ML) is 2.4 on the Richter scale.
A normal fault mechanism along the Ifewara-Zungeru Transcurrent Fault system due to INTERPOLATE SEISMIC was deduced. This suggests that this fault system is still active.
The fault that caused the Earth-tremor has a Stress drop of 5.9 bar.
VIEW DETAILS OF REPORTS.
