Ilaje group kicks against Ogun’s claim on Eba oil site, Olokola seaport

By Boye Oyeyemi –

A socio-cultural organisation, Egbe Omo Ilaje Worldwide, has dismissed claims by the Ogun State Government over oil drilling approval in Eba and plans to develop a deep seaport under a renamed Olokola Free Trade Zone.

The group’s President-General, Prince Iwamitigha Raphael Irowainu, in a statement on Wednesday, described the claims as misleading and an encroachment on Ondo State’s territorial integrity.

He insisted that Eba is a riverine community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State and hosts one of Nigeria’s oldest forest reserves, acquired from Ilaje traditional rulers during the colonial era.

Irowainu recalled that bituminous oil was first discovered surfacing in Ago-Alaja village, Eba, in 2013, prompting joint investigations by the Ondo State Ministry of Environment and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency.

He said samples were analysed and presented to the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources before the state government restricted access to the site for security reasons.

The group alleged that land speculators later stormed the area with security operatives, claiming to act on the Ogun State Government’s authority.

It said the development was reported to the Ondo State Government and condemned by Ilaje monarchs.

On the Olokola Deep Seaport, the Ilaje group said the area was historically an Ilaje settlement designated as a Free Trade Zone during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

It noted that Ogun State’s involvement was merely a compromise to resolve boundary disputes, adding that similar disputes had forced industrialist Aliko Dangote to relocate his refinery project to Lagos.

The organisation argued that Ijebu land, which forms Ogun State’s southern boundary, has no coastline, stressing that only Lagos and Ilaje constitute Yoruba coastal areas as documented in colonial records.