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Ignore such insignificant tantrum, community tells Akeredolu
By Hakeem Gbadamosi – Akure On Aug 16, 2022
The people of the Maporure community of Aheri-land in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, have faulted the claim by a traditional ruler, Onirokun of Irokun, Oba Buari Ola Balogun, that Araromi Seaside is part of Ogun Waterside Local Government, not Ondo State.
The Onirokun of the Irokun Kingdom, Oba Balogun, raised the alarm on Monday that the Araromi Coast, which is being proposed as a zone by the Ondo State Government, is part of Ogun Waterside Local Government and comes under Ogun State, not Ondo State.
However, countering the claims of Balogun, the people of Aheri-land, in a letter to the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, through their Solicitors, Royal Practice Legal Practitioner and Consultants and signed by Ige Asemudara, described the claims as not only false but unfounded.
They maintained that Araromi Seaside had been part of the Ilaje community of Ondo state from time immemorial.
According to the people, who said the letter became necessary to correct the false claims made by Balogun that Araromi Seaside is not part of the state, urging the governor to ignore such insignificant tantrums.
The letter to the governor “We are Solicitors to the royal dynasty of the Maporure of Aheri-land in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.
“Our Client has drawn our attention to the above-captioned publication with instructions to correct the several false claims made therein by one Buari Ola Balogun purporting himself as the ‘Onirokun of Irokun’, a community forming part of the ancient territory of Aheri-land and to urge your Excellency to ignore the such insignificant tantrum.
“In the said publication, the self-styled Onirokun falsely claimed that Araromi- Seaside was in the Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of Ogun State contrary to the truth that Araromi is squarely within the Aheri Ward of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State and not even a border community.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Aheri land which is coterminous with the Ward is the most westerly of the four Ilaje Kingdoms with its littoral boundary extending to Olosunmeta on the Lekki Peninsula corridor as long determined even before Nigeria became a British Protectorate and later a colony in 1900.
“It is the fact of its territorial contiguity with Lagos that the British Government, by an Act of the Nigerian Legislative Council, on the 29th day of November 1895, extended the laws of the Colony of Lagos to Ilaje land and by which it was declared part of the Colony.
Attempts later to alter this well-defined boundary and territory for political exigencies have been the source of unending crises between the Ondo/Abeokuta Provinces which birthed the present Ondo and the Ogun States, particularly when Ijebu was crafted from Abeokuta in 1915 with a rejected policy to create a coastal territory for Ijebu on part of the western fringe of Ilaje soil.
They stressed further that “Your Excellency, the same attempt was rejected in the hinterland of the territory forcing the contrived Ijebu Waterside to be changed to Ogun Waterside in the false hopes of appropriating the Ilaje/Ikale territories along the Itebu Elero/ Ayala corridor.
” In recent times, the National Boundary Commission, in agreement with all stakeholders, had to resort to ethnographic analysis to resolve the unwarranted crises.
“In the final analysis, we state without equivocation that both Araromi and Irokun are one hundred per cent Ilaje communities and within the Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State. No state or ethnic group is in dispute with us over them.
“Even on traditional and historical grounds, it is necessary to educate Mr Buari Balogun that the correct title of the Oba of Irokun is Olurokun and not Onirokun and that Ogbelege whose name Buari proudly but falsely sought to adopt, was a descendant of Oba Adanigbo a past Maporure of Aheri-land. There is no Ruling House or family of Ijebu origin in Irokun.”
The Solicitors disclosed further that “Our Clients state that this Buari was the same impostor who, in 2011 claimed to have missed his way into Irokun in a leaky boat through the Alape River in search of a throne having allegedly been made an Oba somewhere in Ijebu without a visible stool.
“He left immediately and miserably when he was confronted by the reality on the ground. The last we heard of him was his being a sojourner in Ise, somewhere in Lagos State.
“The claim of Buari being on a possible monarchical visit to Araromi Sea-Side is nothing but a grand and theatrical delusion.
“Our Clients note the antics of some enemies of progress who are often used as obstructive agents from Ogun state against any new projects with a view to scaring away investors in the coastal areas of Ondo State. This was the experience on programmes initially designed for the Olokola project.
“Therefore, the Government of Ondo State and other well-meaning investors are advised to ignore the tantrums from the likes of Buari and his amorphous but cowardly principals.”
