State Creation in South West: Fresh Disagreements Among Prominent Yorubas...

IBADAN—FRESH disagreements have arisen among some prominent Yorubas over state creation in the South West. Delegates at the on-going national conference from the zone were said to have endorsed the creation of only Ijebu State from the zone.
A statement by Chief Wole Akinwande and Mr Jare Ajayi on behalf of the Oyo State stakeholders on states’ creation, yesterday, stated that by virtue of various demographic indicators, Oyo State was the most deserving to be split into states.

Decrying this reported endorsement, the group maintained that South-Western delegates to the Confab informed the group that at no time did they (delegates) hold any meeting where it was decided that Ijebu state be created from the zone.
Justifying its position, the group listed five factors as reasons why Oyo State was the most deserving to be split into states.
According to the group, with a landmass of about 28,245.26km2, Oyo State was bigger than about ten states in Nigeria presently and that Ibadan, the Oyo State capital remains the only Regional and Provincial headquarters that has not become a state of its own.
“By this, we are referring to such provincial headquarters like Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, etc all of which have assumed the status of states respectively. In the spirit of fairness, equity and justice, it is high time Ibadan too was given the same treatment. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.”
The Stakeholders argued that even after creating Ibadan State out of the present Oyo State, what would be left was still big enough to be split into at least two hence the demands for Oke Ogun and new Oyo states.
They added that they had been agitating for the creation of Ibadan, Oke ogun and New Oyo states for decades.
The stakeholders on states’ creation supplied various data to back up its argument that even when Oyo State is split into states, each of them may still be bigger than about nine of the present 36 states in Nigeria.
It therefore urged the National Conference and the National Assembly to relax the stringent conditions on states’ creation. while at the same urging the latter to expedite action on creating new states.