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By Oluseye Ojo
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Oke-Ogun Council of Elders (OCE) has pushed for an Oke-Ogun person to become the next governor of Oyo State.
The position was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting held by members of the council at the Bodija residence of the President of Oke-ogun Council of Elders, Otunba Bamidele Dada, a former Minister of State for Agriculture.
In the communiqué signed by Mr Jare Ajayi and Prince Remi Adegbola, the council also expressed deep concern over the security situation in the area.
“No person of Oke-Ogun extraction has served as governor of the entity to which the area belongs right from Nigeria’s Independence. As such, deliberate efforts must be made to remedy this situation,” the communiqué stated.
The council called for the rotation of the governorship position among the seven geo-political zones in the state, which the council listed as Oke-Ogun Zones I and II, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa, Ibadan City and Less City.
The council wants the rotational arrangement to begin from the forthcoming elections in 2027 with Oke-ogun taking the first shot.
The OCE reiterated its earlier advocacy for the re-delimitation of the present Oyo North Senatorial District in such a way that the 10 local government areas of Oke-Ogun would form a senatorial district.
It also expressed its preference for an Oke-Ogun indigene to be the senator that would represent the people of Oyo North in the next dispensation beginning from 2027.
The elders stated that the security situation in the area has been giving them concerns.
“The kidnapping incidents in the North-West Local Government areas of Kwara State and parts of Ogun State are affecting the people of Oke ogun,” the elders noted.
They called on the Federal Government, security agencies and governments of Oyo, Kwara and Ogun States to take pro-active steps to put an end to the insecurity.
