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.
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, Mr 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 the sources said.
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.