The Governments of Oyo and Osun States have appealed to community dwellers along boundary routes to live in peace and unity with residents on the other side of the divide.
The appeal was made when the boundary committee of Oyo state and the state of Osun headed by both deputy governor met today in Ibadan to resolve crisis and violent clashes between residents of Surulere local Government Area of Oyo and Olorunda Local Government Area of Osun state.
While speaking, the deputy governor of Oyo State, Engr. Rauf Olaniyan called on all affected local government councils and respective traditional institutions of border communities to continue to ensure peaceful co-existence amongst themselves.
He charged them to seek to understand one another’s perspective, urging them not resort to violence to prove a point under any condition.
Olaniyan said since both communities speak the same language, have similar backgrounds and were indeed part of the same state before state creation put them apart, they should strive to coexist peacefully.
According to him, “Another reason peace is important is for the history books to be kind to us and for posterity to judge us right that we did what was the best not just for our community but also for the next generation”.
Earlier in his address, the Osun state Deputy Governor, Benedict Alabi said disunity is the bane of progress and development as a divided front would only be at cross purposes and cannot grow.
He appealed to both dissenting parties to obey court judgement when and if the law has been passed on the dispute, urging all to take the outcome of court in good faith.
Alabi pleaded with them to make this resolution the last time it would happen as many productive hours has been expended on boundary dispute related issues in that community.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Oyo State, Prof Oyelowo Oyewo charged both parties to accommodate resolution in the interest of the immediate and larger communities.
He said the states are sister states and only administrative convenience is what necessitated the division of the old Oyo state into separate federating entities, hence called for calm in both areas.
