Remo obas, community angry over Amosun’s LCDAs

…Protesters storm Ogun Assembly for support

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NIGERIA: SOME indigenes of Remo, and their traditional council, are not happy with the configuration of the proposed Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) by the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

Amosun had last week forwarded the Bill announcing the names of no fewer than 37 LCDAs that will be added to the existing 20 local governments to the state House of Assembly for its approval.

Specifically, the aggrieved Remo people on Tuesday stormed the state House of Assembly to protest against the merging of Orile-Oko in Remo North Local Government to Obafemi/Owode Local Government in the proposed Bill.

GatewayMail report that the protesters besieged the House with placards among which read, ‘Avoid war, embrace peace, Orile-Oko belongs to Ogun East,’ ‘Enough is enough, return Orile-Oko to her roots Remoland,’ ‘Remo Youths say no to imposition, Orile-Oko is our land,’ ‘Respect our heritage, norms and culture, Orile-Oko is ours in Remoland.’

The former Chairman of Remo North Local Government, Chief Pekun Awobona, said the decision to seek the lawmakers’ support on their agitation informed the decision to storm the assembly complex.

Awobona, who is the Atunluto of Remoland, added that the protest was in support of the earlier petition by the Remo Traditional Council over an aspect of the Bill, which scaled the second reading during the Plenary held on Tuesday.

The ex-council boss charged the legislators not to approve the move to merge Orile Oko to Obafemi/Owode as being proposed by the governor.

He said: “We are here to give support to the petition that was submitted to the House by the Remo Obas, we are here to say that Orile-Oko totally belongs to Remo and that has been so for ages.”
Awobona added: “Remo and Egba people have been cohabiting peacefully in Orile-Oko for ages; we have not had any quarrel, we live peacefully, but the Executive Governor of Ogun, Governor Amosun wanted to create LCDAs, we thank him for this, because it is a way of development.
“But in doing that, we say who goes to equity must go with clean hands, and therefore Orile-Oko, which has been part and parcel of Remoland, has been excised and merged with Obafemi Owode Local Government.”

“Some people who live in Orile-Oko are Remo people while others are Egba people, but the land totally belongs to Remo and ages have shown this,” Awobona said, adding: “Past petitions, past inquiries, name it, they have all supported Orile-Oko to be part of Remoland, not a single of them has shown that Orile-Oko belongs to any other part other than Remo.”
He further said: “And therefore, we have come to seek the assistance of the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, and his distinguished members that they should return or not accede to the request of his Excellency merging Orile-Oko with Obafemi Owode local government because Orile-Oko is part of Remo, we are not ready to concede an inch square of Orile-Oko.”

After listening to their agitation, the Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi, in company of the majority leader, Yinka Mafe, assured that the house would look into their agitation.

Adekunbi stated that the Bill would soon be at the committee stage where stakeholders would be invited to be part of the discussion before arriving at the final decision.