Senate President, Senator David Mark
By Dele Ogbodo
Senate President, Senator David Mark, Sunday said the National Assembly would consider the creation of more states because that would bring government closer to the people.
He also condemned the renewed attack against places of worship particularly Sunday’s attack on St. Theresa Catholic Church, Kaduna, adding that it is never too late for the perpetrators of this dastard act to repent from their sinful acts against God.
In a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Paul Mumeh, Mark stated this in his address at the Ojude Oba Festival held in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State Sunday.
According to him, “Creation of additional states can only make government closer to the people contrary to the view being expressed in certain quarters that we do not need additional states in the federation.”
He expressed support for the agitation for the creation of Ijebu State out of the present Ogun State, noting that new states would address the issue of marginalisation being raised in many parts of the country.
Describing this year’s edition of the festival as a thanksgiving for the good health of Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Mark said as a nation of diverse culture, “we must take advantage of our diversity by using our culture as a symbol of unity.”
He urged Nigerians to come together and emphasis those things that bind the country together.
Earlier, the governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, commended the bound of unity among all the indigenes and residents of the state.
He assured that his administration will continue to work for the development of Ogun State and her people.
In his welcome address, Oba Adetona urged NASS to remedy the injustice on Ijebu people, by ensuring the creation of Ijebu State been one of the original 24 provinces of Nigeria that is yet to become a State.
“We have been on this issue of creation of Ijebu State since 1975. The justification for it is abundantly clear. The most worrisome aspect of it was the total neglect of Ijebu community in the state creation exercises that have taken place.
“It is lamentable that Ijebu which in the colonial era was one of the 24 provinces that made up Nigeria cannot today boost of being counted as one of the 36 States that presently constitute the country,” Adetona stressed.