By Ayodele Oni
Ondo State government has reacted to allegation of encroachment into some communities by Ogun state, insisting that those areas in question constitutionally belong to Ondo.
The affected communities, Irokun, Obinehin, Idigbengben and Araromi seaside, in Ilaje council area, according to Ondo state, have never been in dispute since the state government has firm control of the areas.
Early this month, the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Noimot Saleko-Ayodele alleged that the Government of Ondo State attacked Ogun state citizens in Irokun.
Reacting on behalf of Ondo state on Friday, the commissioner for information, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju declared that “This allegation is patently false and has become a pattern of alarming propaganda by the Ogun State Government as a strategy to reinforce their false territorial claim on Irokun, Obinehin, Idigbengben and Araromi seaside.
“The Ondo State Government is ever conscious of and irrevocably committed to the fundamental duty of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens.
“The admonition of the Deputy Governor of Ogun State urging the Ondo State Government to call her citizens to order on allegations that they were attacking their counterparts from Ogun State and linking same to the administrative actions of the Ondo State Government is deceptive.
“While the government of Ondo State is irrevocably committed to securing the lives and properties of its residents, we also note with high sense of responsibility that Ondo and Ogun state are sister states of the same Yoruba ethnic stock.
“For the most part, we have been under common political structures since the creation of the Western Region.
“What is now regarded as territorial disputes predated the creation of both states and have always been managed with the highest sense of responsibility by both states.
“Ondo and Ogun States share common boundaries in several parts, but contrary to the allegations of the Ogun State Deputy Governor, the upsurge of conflicts in the coastal areas is traceable to the activities of officials of the Ogun State Government in areas which are under the undisputed administrative territories of Ondo State.
“For the avoidance of doubt, communities such as Irokun, Obineyin, Araromi, etc which featured prominently in the Press Conference by the Deputy Governor are not in dispute between Ondo and Ogun States.
“These towns are legally and administratively within Ondo State territory and the towns have formidable presence of the state government which attest to the administrative control of the state over these areas.
“The appointment of Obas in these communities have been done by Ondo state in accordance with the customary law, and the extent Chiefs Law of the State.
“In particular, the recent appointment of Princess Adeyinka Abejoye-Ogunyemi as the Regent of Olurokun of Irokun following the demise of her father, the immediate past Oba Olowoniyi Abejoye, the 16th Olurokun of Irokun was approved by the Ondo State Government.
“Thus, the declaration of the legitimate exercise of power by the Ondo State Government over this area which was conferred on it by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as illegal by the Deputy Governor of Ogun State is not only untenable but an open invitation to lawlessness by miscreants who might be inclined to enforce the wish of the Ogun State Government.
“We regard the declaration by the Deputy Governor of Ogun State that “on no account will Ogun State Government cede an inch of this land to Ondo State” as comedic.
“We are committed to the development of these areas, and we state categorically that Ondo State is contented with its territorial boundaries within the Nigerian Federation.
“This includes its vast coastline, which is the longest among the littoral states, the boundary of which is historically shared with Lagos state in the west.
“The people of Ondo state know this and are at peace with the resolve of the state government to protect it. On no account will any part of it be ceded without justification.”
The commissioner accused Ogun state of illegally carrying out mappings in areas belonging to Ondo and appealed to the National Boundary Commission to earnestly release the final report of the ethnographic survey.
She appealed to people of the affected areas to maintain the peace assuring that government would protect them.
