Youths in Ajaokuta Local Government Area have condemned in strong terms the purported inclusion of the Local Government in the map seeking the creation of Okura State from the present Kogi State.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Lokoja on Monday, spokesperson of the youths in Ajaokuta, Comrade Abdulraheem Okekenu noted that the River Niger serves as a natural boundary which cannot be disputed.
He advised the agitators to immediately delete Ajaokuta Local Government from the said map.
He described the move as an invitation to anarchy and crisis, stressing that the area had never been part of the Eastern part of the State who were now advocating for the creation of Okura State.
Speaking further, Okekenu said, “Was Ajaokuta Local Government Area part of their map when they were in Benue or Enugu.
“Why now? When they were leaving us in Kabba province they left alone, when they were leaving Kwara they equally left alone. Was there any time that we have been part of them?”
He called on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to immediately call the leadership of the National Assembly to order.
He also called on the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo to immediately step in.
“This matter is a serious one that must not be taken lightly. I am calling on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to immediately halt this move.
“The Federal Government cannot afford to allow a crisis anywhere at this time, considering the fact that the Government is already spending huge resources to curtail insurgency and banditry across the country.
“I am also calling on the Kogi state Governor to immediately stem this tide that is capable of causing crisis for his administration, which is already consolidating on the gains recorded by the immediate past governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, in the areas of security and peaceful co-existence of the various ethnic groups in the state,” he warned.
While acknowledging the fact that it was their own right to seek creation of their own state, he reminded them that “their right stops where others start.”
Recall that Hon. Sanni Egidi, a member of the House of Representatives last week opposed the inclusion of Ajaokuta federal constituency in the proposal to create a new state from Kogi.
This is sequel to the position of Ibrahim Halims, lawmaker representing Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro federal constituency of Kogi, who earlier moved a motion during house plenary for the second reading of a bill to create Okura state from Kogi — with Egume as the proposed capital.
