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Bola Tinubu To Approve Creation Of Ijebu State

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President Bola Tinubu is set to endorse the creation of Ijebu State following a crucial meeting with the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona.

According to People’s Gazette, the meeting, held on January 5 at Tinubu’s Lagos residence, addressed the long-standing request for Ijebu State to be carved out of Ogun State.

Tinubu gave the Awujale his strongest assurances that he will endorse the creation of Ijebu State as a carve-out from Ogun State, dismissing backlash about its viability in light of Nigeria’s raging economic woes.

The Awujale explained that Ijebu is the only colonial-era province without statehood.

The president received the revered traditional ruler at his Bourdillon residence on January 5 and promised his guest that he won’t withhold support for the proposed state just northeast of Lagos, sources familiar with the details told The Gazette under anonymity to discuss privileged conversations.

At the meeting, Adetona lamented how Ijebu remained the only province from the colonial era not to have its own state, decades after its erstwhile peers like Oyo and Sokoto provinces had been subdivided into multiple functioning states, our sources said.

“The president didn’t allow Awujale to overflog the matter before acquiescing,” one of our sources said out of Abuja. It was the first time Tinubu would clearly telegraph his position on the proposed state, although it remained unclear where he would land on other states under consideration before the parliament.

The meeting mentioned Anioma, out of Delta, among potential new states, which lawmakers are discussing as part of another amendment to the 1999 Constitution.

Presidential spokespersons declined to go on record about the meeting, citing its implications for proponents of other new states across the country, who might view the president’s meeting as unduly exclusionary.

An establishment bill for Ijebu State was introduced to the National Assembly in November 2024 when Senator Gbenga Daniel of Ogun East sponsored it, bringing a decades-long hankering of the million-strong Ijebu tribal stock closer to realisation.

Daniel, a former governor of Ogun, conveyed agitations of his kinspeople for an independent state that can sustain itself upon excision from Ogun State to fellow legislators. Mr Daniel sought an alteration of the nation’s constitution to allow the creation of Ijebu State.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio then advanced the bill—titled the “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2024 (Creation of Ijebu State)—and it is now advancing through legislative stages. Several other states are also being discussed to expand Nigeria’s federating units from the current 36 states to as many as 56, meaning up to 20 new states

But some lawmakers and everyday Nigerians have slammed the bill as ill-timed and questioned its value at a time of endemic poverty, chronic inflation, crushing debts, moribund power infrastructure and insecurity.

Critics also said Tinubu was trying to expand Nigeria’s states from 36 because he assumed new states would feel liberated and easily back him for a second term—although it remained unlikely new states would be created before the 2027 elections. Concerns were also raised about how protracted crises may break out among competing interests even within a newly formed state.

However, during the meeting, Awujale urged the president to discount those concerns, insisting that a new Ijebu State would accelerate the development of its constituent units through internally generated revenue and statutory federal allocations.

In December 2024, Adetona, with the help of the Akarigbo of Remo, Adewale Ajayi, hosted traditional rulers and prominent indigenes of the Ijebu province to work out the modalities for the creation of Ijebu State.

These include a suitable state capital, an appropriate and equitable number of local government areas, senatorial districts, federal constituencies and other issues.

Adetona said Ijebu province was “economically-viable” and well-positioned for independence, making boast of the region’s vast swathes of land and infrastructure, from an industrial estate to an international airport still under construction.

“ljebu province is economically viable and already has all the infrastructural facilities that can sustain the state,” Mr Adetona said in his speech to Ijebu stakeholders at his palace on December 19.

‘Such include major industrial estates, like the Flowergate Industrial Estate, the fastest growing industrial estates in Nigeria, an international airport, with potential for a deep sea port, two international sports stadia in ljebu Ode and Sagamu,” the monarch further stated.

 

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Full List: House Of Reps Committee Proposes Creation of 31 New States

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The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review on Thursday proposed the creation of 31 new states in the country.

If the proposal scales through, the Nigerian state will be made up of 67 sub-national governments.

The proposal for new states was contained in a letter read during Thursday’s plenary session by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the session in the absence of the Speaker, Mr Tajudeen Abbas.

The committee chaired by Kalu proposed six new states for North Central, four in the North East, five in the North West, five in South East, four in South-South and seven in South West.

The letter read in part, “The committee proposes the creation of 31 new states. As amended, this section outlines specific requirements that must be fulfilled to initiate the process of state creation, which include the following:

1. New state and boundaries

“An act of the National Assembly for the purpose of creating a new state shall only be passed if it requires support by at least the third majority of members.

2. The House of Representatives, the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area are received by the National Assembly.

“Local government advocates for the creation of additional local government areas are only reminded that Section 8 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, applies to this process.

“Specifically, in accordance with Section 8 (3) of the Constitution, the outcome of the votes of the State Houses of Assembly in the referendum must be forwarded to the National Assembly for fulfilment of state demands.

“Proposals shall be resubmitted in strict adherence to the stipulations. Submit three hard copies of the full proposal of the memoranda to the Secretariat of the Committee at Room H331, House of Representatives, White House, National Assembly Complex, and Abuja.

“Sub-copies must also be sent electronically to the Committee’s email address at info.hccr.gov.nj. For further information or contact, please contact the Committee Clerk at 08069-232381.

“The committee remains committed to supporting the implementing efforts that align with the Constitutional provisions and would only consider proposals that comply with the stipulated guidelines. This is coming from the Clerk of the Committee on Constitutional Review.”

The proposed new states are Okun, Okura and Confluence states from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa states from Benue; FCT state; Amana state from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi states and Savannah states from Borno and Muri State from Taraba.

Others are New Kaduna and Gujarat from Kaduna State; Tiga and Ari from Kano, and Kainji from Kebbi State; Etiti and Orashi as the 6th state in the South East Adada from Enugu, Orlu and Aba from the South East.

Also included are Ogoja from Cross River State, Warri from Delta, Ori and Obolo from Rivers; Torumbe from Ondo; Ibadan from Oyo, Lagoon from Lagos, Ogun, Ijebu from Ogun state as well as Oke Ogun/Ijesha from Oyo/Ogun/Osun States.

 

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Breaking: First Lady Meets IBB, Abdulsalami In Minna

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The wife of the president, Oluremi Tinubu, met on Tuesday with former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, at their uphill residences in Minna.

Mrs. Tinubu arrived in a private aircraft at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport in Minna at about 10.30 am.

She was received at the airport by the Niger state Governor, Dr Umaru Mohammed Bago and his wife, Hajiya Fatima Bago.

 

 

The wife of the president proceeded directly from the airport to the Uphill residence of former Military President Ibrahim Babangida, where she held a closed-door meeting with him for about 35 minutes.

Afterward, she visited the nearby residence of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, for another meeting that was still ongoing at the time of filing this report.

Journalists, except those in the Niger State Governor’s press crew, were not informed about the meetings. When asked, officials described the visits as private.

Details shortly…

 

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Gunmen Abduct Seven Passengers In Ondo, Police Intensify Rescue Efforts

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Some armed men suspected to be kidnappers have abducted seven travellers, close to the Ipele community, along the Owo-Benin highway in Ondo State.

The attack occurred over the weekend, sparking concerns over rising insecurity in the area.

According to a source, the victims were coming from a state in the South-South region and heading for Akure, the Ondo State capital when the incident occurred over the weekend.

There were initially conflicting reports on the number of those abducted. But the spokesperson of Ondo State Police Command, Funmilayo Odunlami, told newsmen that seven persons were kidnapped.

Odunlami said that the police have since swung into action to apprehend the hoodlums and rescue the victims as soon as possible.

The abduction comes shortly after the killing of five farmers at Ajegunle Powerline in Akure North Local Government Area.

 

 

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