Reaction as House of Reps makes move to create new states in southwest

• The House of Representatives has made to divide Oyo state into Ibadan and Oyo, respectively, and both towns would also remain the capitals of the new state
• However, a concerned stakeholder and legal practitioner, Wale Adeagbo, said the proposal for the Oyo state would not bring the desired oneness
• The Ibadan-born lawyer, while speaking with Legit.ng, questioned why the Oyo would retain the state and the capital and foresaw another quest for Oke-Ogun state in the future of Oyo

The National Assembly's move to divide Oyo state into two has continued to generate reactions from concerned stakeholders. One of them shares his view with Legit.ng in an exclusive interview.

Wale Adeagbo, an Ibadan-born legal practitioner, maintained that there are agitations to divide Oyo state and that the quest for Ibadan state to come into existence is genuine, but for Oyo to have the state and capital would not capture the oneness required in the agitation.

Why Oyo should not retain state and capital as NASS proposed new state Photo Credit: @WATLegal, @HouseNGR
Source: Twitter

What to know about dividing Oyo into two?

The legal icon expressed pessimism about the realisation of the proposed bill, adding that it would have been fair if Oyo had the state and the capital become Ogbomosho, Saki, Oke-Ogun and not Oyo again.

He said:

"I don’t think this Bill will fly, although I haven’t read the content of the Bill itself. What I seem to get from the video is that some parts of Oyo State will still be sidelined. Why is the Capital of the proposed State Oyo and not Ogbomoso, Oke-Ogun, or Saki? "The Bill, as it were, doesn’t seem to come from a standpoint of building oneness or true nationalism. To me, it is coming from a place of self-centredness. If ‘Oyo’ gets a state to reflect harmony and spread of development, the Capital should not be Oyo Town…somewhere else."This is not a Kaduna-Kaduna or a Kano-Kano thing. The essence of creating another state is that Ibadan is big enough to be a State on its own, and other areas comprising the present Oyo State, if combined, are enough to form a whole State as well."

How many LGAs Ibadan state will have?

He went further to say the number of local governments in Ibadan was enough to make it a state and urged the national assembly to consider oneness in the proposed Oyo state.

He said:

"Ibadan has 11 LGAs, meaning all other parts have 22 LGAs. Creating a new state should not give the aura that one part is sidelined."In the coming years (say 40 years), Oke-Ogun will also propose a separate State. We can’t continue to have that kind of instability."

State creation: Lawyer explains what should be done

Legit.ng earlier reported that the National Assembly's recent moves to create new states in the country may be the wrong step for Nigeria in the face of economic challenges.

Titilope Anifowoshe, a legal practitioner, in an interview with Legit.ng, posited that some states in Nigeria could not generate internal revenue and creating other states could mount more pressure on the federal government.

Anifowoshe then suggested that a new and working local government would bring government nearer to the people than creating new states.

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Source: Legit.ng