Our Position Statement By the Ogun State Government On the Ilaro.

(From The News (Nigeria) - AAGM)

The Government of Ogun State views with concern some reports and inferences on the recent incidents in Ilaro, headquarters of Yewa South Local Government of the State.

Given the sensitive nature of the incidents and having regard to the implications for public peace and good order, Government wishes to make available to the general public an accurate narrative of the developments in Ilaro. To this end, Government hereby states as follows: 1. On 5 October 2004, the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Oba Samuel Adekambi Tella withdrew an offer of a chieftaincy title to one Dipo Dina, whose nomination for the title was robustly resisted by the youth of the town. Mr. Dina, a member of the opposition Alliance for Democracy (AD) has since claimed that the State Government under the leadership of Otunba Gbenga Daniel prevailed on the Olu-in-Council to withdraw the title. The Olu has corrected this erroneous impression by publicly stating that the withdrawal of the offer of the title was informed solely by the genuine interests of his people and the need to safeguard the cherished customs and traditions of Yewaland from pollution by moneybags of unknown provenance. The Olu has spoken of the need to ensure that only people of good standing with a record of visible and demonstrable contributions to the progress and well being of his domain were conferred with the exalted chieftaincy titles of Yewaland.

2. Despite this clarification by the Paramount Ruler, articles of cheap propaganda were circulated to the press by people who have threatened to make the State ungovernable by whipping up public sentiment against the Government. Throughout the week of 10-17 October, series of meetings were held, attended by fifth column elements and members of the opposition, who saw the stoppage of the title conferment as a threat to the continued supply of cheap funds from gullible politicians. Early this week, the conspirators chanced upon an opportunity to act out their nefarious script, using the cover of complaints of students over the power outage in parts of the town.

3. On Tuesday, 19 October 2004, the wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunke Daniel, in her capacity as Chairperson of Gateway Front Foundation was scheduled to flag off a child de-worming exercise at Iwoye on the outskirts of Ilaro. Unfortunately, Mrs. Daniel could not reach the venue of the exercise where hundreds of children eagerly awaited her arrival. Hoodlums, claiming to be students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro who were protesting power outage during their semester examinations laid siege to the venue of the event, generally making life unbearable for the crowd that had gathered to await the arrival of Mrs. Daniel. The conduct of the mob made the venue unruly and posed a threat to law and order. The law enforcement agents and men of goodwill, therefore felt constrained to resist the affront of the mob, which was promptly dispersed while some arrests were made. But more was to come.

4. Just as her convoy was leaving Ilaro for the final stretch to Iwoye, another mob of hoodlums attacked Mrs.

Daniel's convoy, pelting the vehicles with stones and other dangerous weapons and damaging many vehicles in the process. The action of the mob forced Mrs. Daniel and her entourage, largely made up of women and medical officers to turn back and return to Abeokuta, the State capital.