Yorubas Ask Buhari To Order The Creation Of Awolowo State From Ogun State

PARAMOUNT ruler of Remo Kingdom, Oba Michael Adeniyi Sonariwo, Akarigbo of Remo has called on Presi­dent Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government to create Awolowo state out of Ijebu and Remo divisions of Ogun State.

The monarch told Daily Sun at the weekend that creat­ing Awolowo state would put an end to the controversies that have been trailing the cre­ation of Ijebu state since the agitation started decades ago.

Akarigbo said creating Awolowo state would mean immortalising the late premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the way Washington D.C. was created in memory of the late found­ing President of the United States of America, George Washington.

The rationale behind this, he said was that Ijebu and Remo have been agitating for the creation of a state out of the old Ijebu province.

He argued further that the place remained the only prov­ince in Nigeria today, which has not become a state out of the provinces created during the colonial era.

The royal father, however, said the serious controversies that had been hindering the creation of the state was iden­tity crisis because Ijebu state wanted Ijebu created and the capital located in Ijebu Ode.

Remo, on the other hand, insisted that if the state must be named Ijebu state the head­quarters must be in Remo so that the identity of the two people would be preserved.

To avoid all these contro­versies, Oba Sonariwo added that if the state capital should be in Ijebu Ode, the state should be named Ijebu Remo state or Awolowo state, but Awolowo state would be a great honour for the first pre­mier of Western Region, who did a lot not only for the Yo­ruba race but the entire nation.