Ondo Faults Ogun’s Ownership Claim of Ilaje Communities

The Ondo State Government on Friday frowned at the recent allegation by the Ogun State Government that the residents of Irokun Community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo are attacking the Ogun citizens in the area.

The Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, made the allegation at a press conference recently, claiming Irokun and some other communities in Ilaje land were part of her state.

But Ondo State Government on Friday denied the allegation, describing it as falsehood, declaring that Irokun and other Ilaje communities belonged to Ondo State.

Speaking on the matter on Friday, the Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, said the crisis and attacks that were happening in the affected communities were lallegedly being caused by the officials of the Ogun State Government.

The commissioner said: “On November 3, 2023, the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Mrs Noimot Saleko-Oyodele, alleged that the Government of Ondo State attacked Ogun state citizens in Irokun.

“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 communities 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 the 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 states 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.”

The commissioner noted that Irokun and other communities in the coastal area of Ilaje, as mentioned, featured by the Ogun deputy governor, were not in dispute between the two neighbouring 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 commissioner stressed.

She added: “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,” she declared.