The Ondo State Government on Saturday called on the people of Arogbo-Ijaw and Ijaw-Apoi to join hands with the state government for the smooth takeoff of Local Council Development Area (LCDA) saying no part of the communities had been ceded to Ilaje or Irele local government area.

The state governmentmade this known in a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, who clarified that no part of Ijaw or Apoi had been ceded to any other area.

Ademola-Olateju disclosed that purported map ceding these two communities to other local government areas has no link with the current process of the creation of new LCDAs in the State

According to her, the mapping should be disregarded and “the creation of more LCDAs by the Ondo State Government by, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, has nothing to do with the purported map “ceding” of Arogbo-Ijaw and Ijaw-Apoi towns Ilaje/Ese-Odo or Irele Local Governments respectively.

“The government of Ondo State wishes to state categorically, that no land has been ceded to any community, to which the land did not belong in the state,: she said.

She explained that “the map in question was part of instructional materials and textbooks produced in 2022 and distributed recently to public schools.

“In the map of Ondo state distributed, there were juxtapositions in names and some names were put where they should not be.

“This is an unintended error. When the error was discovered, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology moved swiftly to withdraw the materials.

“This act of inadvertence has no link with the current process on the creation of new LCDAs in the State and should be disregarded completely,” she said. (Tribune)