‘No earthquake in our state’ — Oyo assures residents

The Oyo state government has allayed the fears of residents of the state over a land shaking incident recorded in  some areas of the state on April 19.

A similar incident had occurred in the the state in 2016.

Mathew Oyedokun, special adviser on solid minerals to Abiola Ajimobi, the state governor, explained that the incident, mistaken to be an earthquake, was as a result of force exploration leading to “meteorite breakages of Galatica rock in the earth surface”.

According to Oyedokun, “a solid piece of debris from an object such as a comet, asteroid or meteoroid that originate from the planetary orbit between Mars and Jupiter survived its way through the atmosphere to reach the surface of the earth and hit villages nearby Ipapo in Itesiwaju LGA, Aba Leke, Anberee Oke, Owode and Tede in Atisbo LGA.”

He explained that the meteorite was accompanied by series of reverberating and disturbing noise in the earth’s subsurface as observed by residents of the affected localities and other parts of the state including Ibadan, Oyo and Ibarapa.

He was accompanied on 2-day investigation visit to the localities by Isaac Ishola, commissioner for environment and water resources, and Abidemi Siyanbade, special adviser to Ajimobi on community relations, to ascertain the level of impact and damage to the communities.

Oyedokun added that samples of the meteorite had been sent to the department of geology, University of Ibadan to analyse the body of the rock and its composition determined.

He also said the government wants to discover the rock radioactive and hazard associated with the meteorite breakages as investigation result is being expected.

He urged the residents to be calm, saying that the meteorite impact that occurred in the state did not occur in a built-up area, gas station among others, which according to him, could have resulted in catastrophic events claiming lives and properties.