…From Dele Ogunyemi, Ibadan…
Agitation for the creation of Ibadan State took a new dimension on Monday as a group which tagged itself Oyo State Stakeholders on State Creation stormed the NUJ Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan calling on the National Conference to recommend in its final report the split of the present Oyo State into at least two States.
At a press conference addressed by Chief Adebayo Oyero, President of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) on behalf of the group, the National Conference was urged to sensitize the National Assembly on the need to amend Section 8(1) (a and b) of the 1999 Constitution with a view to removing the impediments to State creation exercise. This, the group said, would create a conducive atmosphere for meeting the demand of the people on state creation, where such demands are merited.
According to Chief Oyero, the National Conference, by taking action in line with the above suggestion, “would be living to its historical responsibility of political restructuring of the country in a manner that will ensure equity and set the tone for good governance.”
The stakeholders of which representatives were drawn from Ibadan and Ibarapa, Oyo, Ogbomoso and Oke Ogun zones of Oyo State, while justifying the demand for the split of the present Oyo State into two, insisted that it was desirable to facilitate the socio-economic development of the areas.
The group declared: “Oyo State, as presently constituted, is about the largest state in the whole of Southern Nigeria. By the year 2006, the State has a population of 5,580,894 (5th among the 36 States of the Federation). The State has a land mass of about 28,245.26km (squared). It arguably is the most urbanized in the country (with the exception of megalopolis –Lagos). It is the only State in the country with two (2) old provinces still kept together as one State.”