The indigenes of Owo/Ose Federal Constituency of Ondo State have rejected the creation of a new Ose State, as being proposed in the National Assembly.
A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Ife Ehindero, of the Akoko North-East/Akoko North-West Federal Constituency, moved a bill to create the new state, and it has reportedly scaled through the first reading.
According to the proposal, Ikare Akoko will be the capital.
However, many prominent indigenes of the Owo/Ose Federal Constituency converged on Owo, the headquarters of Owo Local Government, on Saturday at the Owo/Ose community stakeholders conference, to reject the bill, particularly because Ikare Akoko was proposed to be the capital of the new state, if the process eventually succeeds.
In the communique issued at the end of the meeting, the constituents also faulted the bill, saying there was no due consultation of stakeholders before the bill was presented to the National Assembly. The communique was read by a former Chief of Staff to the late former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Chief Gbenga Ale.
The communique partly read, “The recent proposition for the creation of ‘Ose State,’ with its capital unilaterally designated as Ikare-Akoko without due consultation with the indigenous people of Owo and Ose constitutes a grave affront to the sensibilities, historical standing and aspirations of the two local government areas.
“The said proposal, conceived and driven largely by our Akoko brothers, is a repudiation of democratic ethos and a calculated attempt to erode the historical preeminence and strategic centrality of Owo and Ose within the subregion.
“Historically, Owo was the administrative headquarters of the defunct Owo Division- an expansive jurisdiction encompassing all of present-day Akoko and parts of what is now Kogi State. By every legal, historical and socio-political metric, Ogho ( present Owo/Ose) remains the authentic fulcrum of governance, civilisation and development in the Ondo North axis.”
The conference also resolved that “the arbitrary and exclusionary proposal for the creation of ‘Ose State’ with its capital at Ikare-Akoko is rejected in its entirety, being procedurally defective, morally indefensible, politically provocative and economically untenable.”
It added, “Any future attempt to redraw the administrative map of the region, whether in the form of state creation or boundary adjustment, must be predicated on inclusive consultations, constitutional procedure, empirical viability assessments and equitable representation of all constituent stakeholders.
“Should a state be created within the Ondo North Senatorial District involving the present territories of Owo and Ose, the only historically consistent, politically justifiable and infrastructurally equipped location for the capital remains Owo. But this too cannot be declared unilaterally, the eventual choice shall be based on consultation within Owo and Ose Federal Constituency”
Speaking at the conference, the chairman of the occasion and Olowo of Owo Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, called for unity among all Owo-speaking communities in the two local governments of Owo and Ose.
Ogunoye said, “We are one and should continue to be united. Even if there are issues, we should sit down and resolve them. Ose and Owo are inseparable because we share so many things in common. We share the same tradition, and we speak the same dialect. We should not give room for cracks among us.
“The meeting should avail us the opportunity to open our minds and chart a way forward in unison, together we move and stand by our decision. That is the reason for this meeting. We must prepare ourselves for the feature. We must unite ourselves and protect our land. Henceforth, we must unite and move forward.”
