One big move wey dey shake things up for Nigerian politics na the bill to create new Oyo State and Ibadan State, which don pass second reading for the House of Representatives. This bill, wey Akeem Adeyemi, the son of the late Alafin Adeyemi, and six other lawmakers sponsor, aim to divide the current Oyo State into two separate states.
The new Oyo State go have Oyo town as its capital, while the remaining part of the state go be renamed Ibadan State, with Ibadan city as its capital. The bill was passed during a plenary session on Tuesday and has been referred to the Constitutional Review Committee for further action.
The proposed legislation also include plans to divide the existing 33 local governments between the two new states. This move dey spark discussions about governance and resource distribution for the region.
This development follow the passage of another similar bill last week, which aim to create Ogoja State from Cross River in Nigeria’s south-south geopolitical zone. Since Nigeria return to democratic rule in 1999, no new states have been created.
Speaker Tajudeen Abass refer the bill to the committee on constitutional review without any debate, saying the bill was straightforward and did not require debate. Oyo State, which was established on February 3, 1976, by the military regime of General Murtala Mohammed, has seen several attempts to create new states from it in the past, but none have succeeded until now.
