Ilaje communities in Ondo reject dep governor’s claim of being part of Ogun

The Onirokun of Irokun in Ode Irokun, Emmanuel Ogunbajo, in Ilaje Local Government Area, Ondo State, on Tuesday, dismissed the claim his communities are part of Ogun State, in response to the government of Ogun State’s alleged encroachment.

In an earlier address, the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, warned the Ondo State government to caution its citizens from encroaching on Ogun territory.

Salako-Oyedele also alleged that Ondo indigenes had launched on Ogun indigenes in the communities bordering the two states

But reacting to the allegations, the Secretary of the Onirokun of Irokun in Ode Irokun, Emmanuel Ogunbajo, dismissed the claim by the Deputy Governor of Ogun State that “Irokun kingdom is part of Ogun State.”

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Ogunbajo said: “Irokun is an ancient Ilaje Kingdom whose people are Ilaje, speak undiluted Ilaje-Yoruba tongue within the territory of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State and nothing will change that reality.

“The immediate past Olurokun Oba Olowoniyi Abejoye, whose daughter, Princess Adeyinka Abejoye-Ogunyemi, is now the Regent, was the 16th Olurokun of Irokun.

“On the claim of Olurokun being a member of the Ijebu Traditional Council, records in both Ondo and Ogun states show that as far back as 1920, the District Officer of Ijebu-Ode, in his letter N0. 71/1920 of July 9, 1920, to his Ondo Division counterpart, had confirmed that neither Irokun nor the village of Obi was in Ijebu country.

“Ilaje in the coastal part is not contiguous with Ijebu which is north of it and was under the Abeokuta Province which had no coastal access as part of the Southern Protectorate.”

“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 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,” he stated.

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