Don’t sign LCDAs bill into law, Oke-Ona Egba rulers warn Amosun

 

Oke-Ona Egba people in Ogun State have warned Governor Ibikunle Amosun against signing the Local Government Creation and Transitional provisions Amendments Law, which was passed into law by the House of Assembly.

Last Thursday, the 26-member Assembly passed the bill and forwarded same to Amosun the following day for his assent.

The bill seeks legal backing for the creation of 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in addition to the 20 local governments.

But yesterday, the Oke-Ona Egba people urged Amosun not to sign the document because it would unjustly detach them from their “historical and cultural root” and lump them together with Remo people in Remoland.

Addressing reporters at the palace of the Osile of Oke-Ona Egba, Abeokuta, the state capital,  the Oluwo of Oke-Ona Egba, High Chief Abayomi Jiboku, said they will, within the ambit of the law, resist any attempt to rob them of their “cradle”.

Jiboku, who spoke in the company of 12 other chiefs, including the Otu Iyalode of Ago -Okoland, Mrs. Olayinka Folarin, advised the governor not to tamper with the sovereignty of the people or do things that could lead to inter-tribal frictions.

Jiboku said: “The House of Assembly passed the bill into law on May 5.

“The amended edict is on the governor’s table for his assent. It was taken to the governor’s office by the Deputy Speaker, Kunle Oluomo.

“You would also have known that the only amendment was the return of Orile Oko to Remo North Local Government.

“I want to state categorically that we, the people of Oko in Egba land both in Abeokuta, Orile Oko and in diaspora, absolutely reject with all our blood, the return of our homestead, Orile Oko, to Remo North Local Government.

“We are Egba. We belong to Obafemi /Owode Local Government in Egba land.”

The Egba chief said he suspects that the government is “under pressure from some quarters”.

He said his people had earlier voted “yes” to remain with their kinsmen in Egba when the Olusegun Osoba government conducted a referendum in 2002.

The proprietor of Taidob College, Abeokuta, wondered why the Amosun government and the Assembly will  seek to alter a referendum that had been decided and signed into law in August 2002.

“By the result of the referendum, no government has the power to obliterate the sovereignty of the people of Orile Oko.

“That referendum is their sovereignty. It is unalterable. It is immutable. It is undeniable.

“Governor Ibikunle Amosun must uphold the inalienable right the people of Orile Oko to be merged with Obafemi/Owode Local Government,” he said.