By Osagie Otabor, Akure


Residents of Ondo State of the Ijaw extraction have kicked against the state government adoption of the Odua anthem

The Ijaws urged the state government to immediately put on hold the Odua anthem adoption and conferred with Ijaw leaders to come up with the Ijaw version of the anthem if it must be sung in public places.

It would be recalled that the dissolved State Executive Council last week approved the adoption of the Odua anthem to be sung after the National Anthem at official and public functions.

It said the Odua anthem was meant to project the tradition and culture of the Yoruba tribe.

But the Ijaws described the action as highly provocative and very irritating, saying it portends a deliberate affront to the peace loving Ijaws of Ondo State.

The Ijaws accused Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of running Info without recourse to the pluralistic nature of the State.

Representatives of the Ijaws in the Ondo House of Assembly, Hon. Success Torhukerhijo representing Ese-Odo Constituency, said it was preposterous to adopt an anthem for the state in Yoruba language without thinking of the concerns of the Ijaws where the state has two ethnic nationalities- the majority Yoruba and the minority Ijaw.

Hon Torhukerhijo in a statement issued in Akure said it was a ploy to obliterate the Ijaws from the history of Ondo State.

Torhukerhijo urged Governor Akeredolu to tow the path of his predecessors who he said created a Subordinate Area Council which enjoyed almost equal status with other Local Governments in the state in 1981.

He said the action has put an average right thinking Ijaw man into psychological trauma saying it smacked of lack of social equality and an antithesis to a united, just and free society.

According to him: “It is perplexing that the Governor in spite of his pedigree does not possess the political will for an all-inclusive government and the Ijaws of Ondo State have been consistently subjected to neglect and abandonment on issues of state by his executive and administrative actions.

“It is pitiable that the Ijaws with a lot of qualified manpower do not have a Permanent Secretary, no Judge in the State High Court and we are short-changed in every facet of the State public service by Governor Akeredolu’s executive and administrative actions. It is pathetic that we have only one Magistrate Court in the whole of the over 250 communities in Ijaw land and no Magistrate is posted to the place.

interest of the Ijaws in Ondo state in his administrative and executive actions and in all aspects of governance.

“This is intolerable and is outrightly rejected by the Ijaw ethnic nationality.”

Fantasticcc:
Ondo is not a Yoruba state, Yorubas should be careful

Givaxy:

Yes its Igbo state
Ijaws have to live with the odua anthem because they are not even up to 2% in ondo state

Givaxy:

Yes its Igbo state
Ijaws have to live with the odua anthem because they are not even up to 2% in ondo state

Omuaro38:

The Ondo state government had better put them in their place fast before their handshakes extend beyond their elbows, the recalcitrance of the Ijo rats isn't unpopular among their Niger Delta neighbors... so the Ondo people had better give them the carrot and stick approach to curb their madness.

meccuno:
you are the same people who say igbos want to dominate minorities and are intolerant but you people are worse .

Omuaro38:
These minority Ijaw scums are really very daring and parasitic irritants, are they even indigenous to Ondo state or did they migrate there to settle?

Givaxy:

Yes its Igbo state
Ijaws have to live with the odua anthem because they are not even up to 2% in ondo state

jimyjames:

They should be carved back to niger Delta were they belong simple

meccuno:
you are the same people who say igbos want to dominate minorities and are intolerant but you people are worse .

Greenback:


Go tell that to the fulanis in control of Ilorin. ;S

SpatialKing:
Ondo was never a Yoruba state and can never be a Yoruba state... Why Odua Anthem?

Givaxy:

Governor is in control of his state and the last time I check, the governor is a yoruba man

Givaxy:

Yes now. They even migrated there because on do is a coastal state

Greenback:


A gov that joins and follows all his people including your uncles and aunts and elders to dobale flat on the ground for Hausa Fulani emir of Ilorin baaaaahahahahahahhaahaaaaa!!!!!

BabaOwen:
What a daft talk. Is just like saying ibadan does not belong to Ibadan people because they migrated there.

Greenback:


Sifia pains