Open Letter by Itunu Temitayo Abioro, Senatorial Candidate, Ogun West, NDC

TO: Dr Ola Oresanya, Honourable Commissioner for Environment, Ogun State.
CC: His Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun, Governor of Ogun State; The Media; The People of Ogun State.

SUBJECT: THE IJEBU-ODE GAS CRISIS: THE 2028 EARTHQUAKE ALARM, WET HANDKERCHIEFS, AND THE DANGER OF HUMAN NEGLIGENCE.

Dear Commissioner Oresanya,

I write to you not as a politician, but as a deeply concerned son of Ogun State.

I have watched with growing alarm the recurring gas emissions in Ijebu-Ode and its environs, which have led to the hospitalisation of over 200 students and teachers in three waves over the last few months. I have read your statements, I have listened to the town hall meetings, and I have reviewed publicly available information.

Your administration’s official position is that these toxic emissions—primarily methane and hydrogen sulphide—are the result of natural geological activity, escaping through underground fractures along the Ifewara-Zungeru trans-Atlantic fault line. You have stated that the fault line has been there “from time immemorial”.

Commissioner, if the fault line has been there from time immemorial, why is the earth suddenly exhaling with such lethal force now?

The answer lies not in ancient geology, but in modern human activity on the surface. And the science backs this up. Prof. Philip Ikhane, Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at Olabisi Onabanjo University, who is leading your own investigation, has explicitly warned residents to minimise activities such as borehole drilling and quarry blasting, noting that such activities could aggravate existing fault lines.

The deafening vibrations of unregulated quarry explosions and the aggressive, endless drilling of boreholes are acting like a hammer on a cracked windshield. They are widening the fractures and uncorking the natural underground pressure.

But the human negligence does not end there. The Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON), Ogun State Branch, has publicly questioned the official narrative. The Chairman, Temitope Amoo, pointed out that methane alone is a “simple asphyxiant with no direct toxic effect at such exposure levels” and “cannot sufficiently explain the acute medical episodes witnessed among students”. ISPON has called for an immediate multi-gas investigation, warning that the symptoms strongly suggest the presence of Hydrogen Sulphide (H₂S), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), or industrial odorants capable of triggering respiratory and neurological distress.

Furthermore, AfriSAFE, a leading safety advocacy organisation, has demanded the closure of erring factories. They noted that preliminary assessments registered an alarming methane concentration of 13,500 parts per million (ppm) near local school grounds, warning that “the air pollution we can see and smell is only the tip of the iceberg”. They asked a pertinent question: if visible emissions are hospitalising hundreds of children, how many invisible, odourless toxins are quietly creeping into homes?

Commissioner, your advice to residents to cover their noses with wet handkerchiefs during these incidents is an insult to the intelligence of the people. A wet handkerchief is not a policy. It is a band-aid on a bullet wound.

But here is the most chilling part of this crisis—the part that makes your current response not just inadequate, but dangerously negligent.

During your administration’s response, you referenced an April 2026 inaugural lecture by a Professor of Solid Earth Physics at Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED). That Professor was Oluwakemi Abosede Oyebanjo. She presented what she called “compelling evidence” that Ijebu Ode sits atop a deep-seated geological fault line capable of generating earthquakes, and she warned that Ijebu Ode could experience an earthquake by 2028—less than two years from now. She noted that the earth beneath Ijebu Ode has moved before, with a significant event occurring on July 28, 1984, and that “the geological structures suggest it retains the capacity to do so again”.

Commissioner, if there is a scientific projection of an earthquake in less than two years, then these gas emissions are not a public health nuisance; they are the early seismic warnings of a destabilised earth. The ground beneath Ijebu-Ode is under immense stress. You cannot hand out wet handkerchiefs and allow quarry blasting to continue hammering away at a fault line that is already fracturing.

I am therefore calling on your office to take the following immediate actions:

• Immediate Moratorium: Place an immediate moratorium on all aggressive quarry blasting and deep borehole drilling within the Ijebu-Ode axis until a comprehensive seismic and environmental audit is completed.

• Comprehensive Testing: Expand the investigation beyond the geological fault line. Test for VOCs, industrial emissions, and groundwater contamination. Audit the factories and industrial facilities operating within residential and school perimeters.

• A Real Safety Plan: Establish a clear evacuation and safety protocol for the affected schools and communities. If the environment is toxic, do not tell the people to cover their noses—move them out of harm’s way.

Commissioner, the people of Ijebu-Ode deserve clean air and safe ground. They deserve a government that investigates the root causes of this crisis, rather than one that issues convenient geological explanations while the earth trembles beneath our children’s feet.

The earth may be cracking, but it is your responsibility to hold it together.

Yours in the service of the people,

Itunu Temitayo Abioro
Senatorial Candidate, Ogun West, NDC