We’re part of Ondo, not Ogun, community replies deputy governor

Irokun community in Ilaje Council has faulted the claim by the Ogun State Government that the community is not part of Ondo State.

According to the regent of the community, Princess Adeyinka Abejoye-Ogunyemi, her people were prepared to endure any hardship to resist the purported territorial ambitions of the Ogun State Government.

While faulting the claim made by the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Noimot Salako Oyedele, that Irokun was not part of Ondo State, Abejoye-Ogunyemi said
nothing would change the reality that the kingdom remained within Ondo State.

Abejoye-Ogunyemi maintained that the move by the Ogun State to make Olurokun part of the Ijebu Traditional Council was due to the now moribund multimillion dollar Olokola project.

Speaking through the Olurokun Palace Secretary, Prince Emmanuel Ogunbajo, the Olurokun of Irokun said the Ogun State Government had no business rejecting her appointment as regent on the false claim that the Irokun Kingdom was part of Ogun State.

He said: “The current non-existent territorial dispute was schemed when the Ondo and Ijebu Provinces were created in 1915, and part of Ilaje in the western boundary with Lagos along the Lekki Peninsula was sought to be carved to create littoral access for the new Ijebu Province.

“It cannot be overemphasised that, apart from ambitious territorial claims, Ogun State has no presence in any of the constituent communities of Irokun Kingdom, where limited access to social amenities, including secondary education, is from Ondo State.

“By this vaulting territorial claim of Ogun State, the Olokola project has become moribund, and investors in oil refineries, deep seaports, and petrochemical industries are scared away, giving room for fake real estate developers and land speculators aided by officials of the Ogun State government.”

He added: “We wish to let Her Excellency know that Irokun Kingdom is not being claimed for Ondo State. It has always been an inseparable component of the Ilaje nation as part of Ondo State. This reality will remain the same wherever the Ilaje is made to be by any administrative arrangement by Nigeria.

“The resort to violence and intimidation by the Ogun State Government, using the police and other security agents, including some miscreant immigrants within the Irokun Kingdom, will not alter the status quo that the Irokun Kingdom is an integral part of Ilaje and Ondo State. On this, we are resolved and prepared to endure any hardship in its realisation in all generations.”