Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State
Ondo State is not involved in the secession agenda that is currently being agitated for by some groups in South-West Nigeria.
The Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, revealed this on Monday, just as he warned the frontline agitators of Oduduwa Republic to stay away from Ondo State.
Akeredolu stated this during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed first female Secretary to the State Government, Princess Oladunni Odu, and four Special Advisers at the Cocoa Conference Hall of the Governor’s Office, Alagbaka, Akure, maintaining that the people of the state had elected to stay in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Recently, a Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Igboho, and others within the South-west zone had been agitating that Yoruba land should break away from Nigeria.
While emphasising that the noise generated by what he described as seeming inaction or passive indifference on the part of elected and appointed representatives of the government at all levels appeared to be responsible for the growing disaffection in the land, Akeredolu maintained that while some had been measured in their reactions to these problems, others had been less diplomatic about the agenda.
Said he: “While it is the right of citizens to discuss, agitate and even fight to right perceived wrongs, culminating in self-determination, this must be done within known and acceptable parameters. All concerned must be ad idem, that is, agree to pursue the same objectives to achieve a desirable or desired end”.
The governor further stated that there were reasons to demand that certain anomalies be put right, adding that dialogue would continue to be encouraged as an effective tool in resolving disputes.
Noted Akeredolu: “Consequently, no part of the entire State, known and delineated as Ondo State, shall permit any gathering or agitation which may suggest, however remotely, that we are in support of unthinking rabble rousing. We will not be led to assured annihilation by anyone or a group of people, still smarting from the electoral defeats of recent times and presumed exclusion from the process of decision-making.
“Our people are knowledgeable enough to determine their interest at any point. If and when they consider self-determination as an option, they will not depend on external promptings to act. That is why we are different. That is why we are who we are. And that is the way it is going to be”.
