Boundary Dispute: Ondo tackles Ogun over land encroachment

The Ondo and Ogun states continued to trade words over about four communities lying at the boundary of the two states.

Ondo state government disputed the claims by the Ogun state government that its citizens were encroaching on Ogun territory.

The Ondo state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs. Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, maintained that the communities in contention are within the Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo state and belong to the state.

It will be recalled that the Ogun state Deputy Governor, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, who is also the Chairman of the Ogun State Boundary Committee, had accused the Ondo State government of attacking its territories.

Ademola-Olateju while speaking during a press conference described the allegations of encroachment into some communities in Ogun State as unfounded, but stated that the areas in question constitutionally belong to Ondo State.

The Ondo Information Commissioner stated that the allegation is nothing but “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.”

Ademola-Olateju, however, described as comedic that statement that on no account will Ogun state Government cede an inch of this land to Ondo State.

According to her, the Ondo state government was ever conscious of and irrevocably committed to the fundamental duty of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens, noting that the state government was irrevocably committed to securing the lives and properties of its residents.

“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 the formidable presence of the state government which attests to the administrative control of the state over these areas,” the Commissioner said.

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