Youths and community leaders of Itasa in Iwajowa local government area of Oyo State have protested the alleged exploration and exploitation of natural resources in the area by a mining company, Architype Industries Nigeria Limited.
The protesters claimed that the company had been exploring their natural resources without fulfilling due process of agreeing to a community development document of adequate compensation and rehabilitation of the environment.
The protesters in their hundreds trooped to the streets from where they proceeded to the palace of their king, the Onitile of Itasa, Oba Michael Sijuola Oyediran.
Counsel to Itasa community, Mr. Femi Aborisade; the Itasa Community Development Association and Oba Oyediran had between 2022 and 2025 written letters to the firm over its activities in the community.
The letters pointed out some of the infractions the company had and continues to commit, which included failure to conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment [EIA] before commencement of mining operations as stipulated under Section 131 of the Mining Act; non-submission of a valid Community Development Agreement [CDA], among others.
Protesting amid tight security, the youths and leaders sang solidarity and protest songs and carried placards bearing various inscriptions.
The inscriptions include ‘Ajibade, leave our town, Stop destroying our town’, ‘Your activities are detrimental to our town’, ‘Leave our town, now’, ‘Your presence in our town is making things uncomfortable’, ‘Ajibade must go’, ‘Itasa people reject Ajibade for illegal mining activities in our town’.
Others were ‘Achitype must leave our land’, ‘Stop destroying our land’, ‘Engr. Ajibade is enslaving us over 25 years ago without CDA, leave our land’, ‘Illegal mining must stop’, ‘Itasa people are tired of illegal mining’, ‘Gov Makinde, Itasa people seek your aid’, and others.
Speaking during the protest, a community development leader, Alhaji Odedele Banji accused the mining company of undue exploitation.
Banji said, ‘’We are protesting because this man has been working our land over past 25 years without any particular project to his credit.
“There is no project to point to. We have written the CDA but he did not sign it. We wrote a letter to him to stop working on our land.
“As I am speaking now, they are still working on that site. He has not done what the community expects from him. There is no community representation on the mining site.
“The company is just doing things the way it likes. That makes all the youths and people in the town annoyed and they are saying they don’t want him again.
“He should either leave our town or sign the CDA. Ajibade must leave our land. He is doing illegal mining. The Mining Act says mining companies should liaise with the host community, and have the CDA but all these things are not there.
“We have written to all the security men in this local government. We have written to the Ministry of Solid Minerals in Ibadan and Abuja.
‘’Government should intervene so that the host community can enjoy what it is supposed to enjoy. He can’t continue to exploit our resources for profit making without doing the right thing for the host community. Engr. Ajibade should follow the rules and regulations and the Mining Act’’.
Also speaking, the youth leader of the community, Mr. Muritala Busari, said ‘’The company has been working in our land for the past 25 years, but no solid CDA between the company and the community. Since then, he was just exploring and exploiting our resources.
“There is nothing to point to as a project done for the community. Any time we raised an issue on the benefits that are supposed to accrue to the community, the man would be begging. We don’t want any kick-back.
“Let him do the right thing for the community as enshrined in the law of the country. We have given him the CDA to sign but declined to do so. They don’t want to do any kangaroo agreement.
“Let him do the right thing. The community has given him a stop-work letter, yet he continues mining activities. No step has been taken so far. That is why we are staging this peaceful protest. We don’t want him again’’.
Also, the vice chairman of Itile Community Development, Itasa, Abiodun Oyetunji Jacob said: ‘’We are fighting for our rights’’.
Speaking with journalists after receiving the protesters, the Onitile of Itasa, Oba Oyediran expressed support for his subjects, ‘’I am in support of the protest.
“Ajibade has been working here for the past 25 years, nothing tangible he has done for the community. We have urged him to do the right things but all to no avail. As a result of that, the youths and community members said they would stage a peaceful protest, I asked them to go ahead but they must not do it on the mining site to avoid disaster.
“Ajibade has not done the right thing for the community and this has retarded our development. Some towns which are not as big as ours and don’t have the kind of resources we have here are benefiting a lot from their natural endowment.
“Why is our own different? The government should come to our aid and impress upon him to do the right things for the community so that we experience development. If he cannot do it, he should leave our community’’.
Reacting to the allegations, Engr. Adeniran Ajibade, the owner of Achitype Industries Limited said he was ready to return to the negotiation table with the community.
He said, ‘’I am not an illegal miner. I am duly licensed by the federal government to do what I am doing. I have held meetings with youths, the monarch and chiefs before.
“They should just let us continue with our negotiation. I am ready for a review of the terms of the agreement. We are willing to review the existing CDA under the supervision of the Mine Environment Compliance [MEC] Department of the Federal Ministry of Mining and Solid, and relevant agencies’’.
