A sociocultural organisation, Egbe Omo Ilaje World-Wide, has dismissed the purported claim by the Ogun State Government over the oil drilling and a deep-seaport project in a contested coastal corridor, stressing that it is an attempt to annex the sovereign territory of Ondo State.

In a statement issued, the group, which is the umbrella body for the Ilaje people, specifically rejected the stance of Ogun State that it has presidential approval for oil exploration at Eba and the development of the Olokola Deep Seaport.

According to the President-General of Egbe Omo Ilaje, Iwamitigha Raphael Irowainu, Eba is not in Ogun State but is an Ilaje community in the riverine area of Ondo State’s Ilaje Local Council Area. He stressed that any attempt to take over Ilaje land will be resisted.

The Ogun State Government issued a statement a few days ago, quoting Governor Dapo Abiodun as saying that President Bola Tinubu had approved the commencement of commercial oil drilling operations in the Ipokia Local Government Area of the state.

While describing the Ogun State Government’s action as an impossible venture, Irowainu maintained that the renaming of the axis as “Blue Marine Economic Zone” is an exercise in futility.

The president-general, who accused the Ogun State government of what he described as administrative subterfuge over the years, stated that it had been attempting to absorb Ilaje communities through the creation of Ijebu Waterside and Ogun Water.

The group said, “We reiterate, for the umpteenth time, that Ijesha land, which constitutes the southern boundary of Ogun State, has no coastal territory, and we challenge anyone to mention such a community. In contrast, only Lagos and Ilaje (now Ondo State) are contiguous Yoruba littoral territories.”

“We observe that the statements in the press release by the Ogun State Government were completely outside the context of the courtesy visit by the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Abubakar Abdullahi Mustapha, to the Governor of Ogun State.

“Such statements were made to mislead the naval high command about the state with competent jurisdiction over the concerned villages in preparation for a possible crackdown on the people, knowing fully well that such state capture would assuredly be resisted, as occurred last year when Ogun State illegally drafted some naval personnel to Ago-Alaja in Eba.

“Such laughable comments include a proposed Navy Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Tongeji Island in Ogun State, near the Nigerian border with the Republic of Benin, whose operational area would purportedly extend to Edo State, taking no cognisance of the existing FOB at Igbokoda in Ondo and other naval command establishments in Delta and Bayelsa states.”

Meanwhile, the group urged President Bola Tinubu to “recall that any request for an investment at Olokola or Eba by or through Ogun State is a provocative act of violation of the territory of Ondo State and reject or cancel such approvals in the interest of fairness and peace.”

“That the incorporation of Ogun State in the Olokola coastal arrangement was a compromise by the Obasanjo Federal Government and the governments of the two states, and that the current unilateral posture of Ogun State will not stand.” (The Guardian)