Olubadan-designate Oba Rashidi Ladoja once more urged the creation of Ibadan State, saying that it would be the pinnacle of his rule if achieved.
Talking to guests at his palace in Bodija, the 44th incoming Olubadan of Ibadanland said Ibadan, with eleven local councils, is large and blessed enough to qualify as a state.
“Besides the fulfillment of other things in life, what is left for me now is the actualization of Ibadan State. I hope this happens while I am still around as Olubadan. The realization of Ibadan State has long been overdue, and stakeholders in the path of its realization are already on the move,” he stated.
His statements are two months since Rep. Abass Adigun, Ibadan North East/South East federal constituency, sponsored a bill to create Ibadan State from Oyo State. The bill, being An Act to Amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) to make provision for the creation of Ibadan State with Ibadan as the nominated Capital City and for Related Matters, 2025, also proposes 32 local government areas for the new state.
The campaign has since gained momentum, gaining endorsements from stakeholders like the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), monarchs, compound heads (Mogajis), and other interest groups. Their joint support was once more made known at the South West zonal public hearing on constitutional review in Lagos in July.
Rep. Adigun, the chairman of the House Committee on Narcotic Drugs as well, argued that Ibadan State has human and material resources to develop. He maintained that its creation would uphold national development, justice, and federal balance, while granting Ibadan the authority to develop its economic potentials and make its own destiny.
