• Vows to resist attempts to take over Ilaje land
SOCIO-CULTURAL organisation, Egbe Omo IlajeWorldwide, has dismissed the purported claim by the Ogun State Government over the oil drilling and a deep-seaport project in a contested coastal corridor, stressing that it is an attempt to annex the sovereign territory of Ondo State.

In a statement issued by the group, which is the umbrella body for the Ilaje people, the group discarded the stance of Ogun State of having presidential approval for oil exploration at Eba, and the development of Olokola Deep Seaport.

According to the President-General of Egbe Omo Ilaje, Iwamitigha Raphael Irowainu, Eba is not in Ogun State but an Ilaje community in the riverine area of Ondo State’s Ilaje Local Council Area, stressing that attempts to take overIlaje land will be resisted.

The Ogun State Government had issued a statement a few days ago, quoting Governor Dapo Abiodun as saying that President Bola Tinubu had approved the commencement of commercial oil drilling operations in the Ipokia Local Government Area of the state.

While describing the action of the Ogun State Government as an impossible venture, Irowainu maintained that renaming the axis “Blue Marine Economic Zone” is an exercise in futility.

The president-general, who accused the Ogun State government of what he described as administration subterfuge over the years, stated that it had been attempting to absorb Ilaje communities with the creation of Ijebu Waterside and Ogun Waterside.

The group urged President Bola Tinubu to “recall that any request for an investment at Olokola or Eba by or through Ogun State is a provocative act of violation of the territory of Ondo State and reject or cancel such approvals in the interest of fairness and peace.”