‘Akure incident was caused by explosives’ — mining society counters OAU prof

The Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) has faulted the claim of Adepelumi Adekunle, a geophysicist, that the reported explosion in Akure, Ondo state, was an impact from meteors.

In a statement on Friday, Obadiah Nkom, NMGS president, said the blast was caused by explosives and not a natural phenomenon.

Adekunle, a professor of geophysics and earthquake engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), had said his research team found out the eruption was not caused by explosives as earlier claimed by the state governor.

“The field evidence point to a conclusion that a meteoric from an asteroid belt that travels at a great speed from space impacted the location at an angle of 43 degrees created an ejecta at South-Western part,” he had said in his report.

But the NMGS described the claim as false, and said all evidence suggest the explosion was man-made.

It said: “The explosion was caused by the unfortunate and accidental detonation of explosives being lawfully conveyed to Edo state; all evidences from actual site visits by members of the society and interviews from eye witnesses have confirmed the cause to be man-made.

“The story that it was caused by meteorite that impacted the area is false and the general public and news media are urged to discountenance such reports.

“All relevant agencies of government are encouraged to ensure strict compliance with the necessary safety codes by companies involved in the use of such devices for their lawful operations.”

Nkom urged the general public to allow the law enforcement agencies do their job “without encumbrances,” adding: “The NMGS is in touch with the necessary agencies of government seeing that such occurrence is prevented in future.”