A group of youths from Iwoland has assured any political party who considered an indigene of the town as its candidate of over 100,000 votes during the September 22 governorship election in Osun state.
The youths under the aegis, Concerned Iwoland Youth For Actualisation of Iwoland Agenda made this known on Sunday in a press release signed by their chairman, Alhaji Nurudeen Emiloju, General Secretary, Mayowa Otun and Publicity Secretary, Yusuff Ola-Gold, Mutalub.
The release was issued after the youths staged a protest against what they termed “gross marginalisation” of the people in the political scheme of things in Osun.
The group said Iwoland has capable people to succeed incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola stressing that the town has been grossly marginalized despite its contributions to the Democratic tenets of the state.
The release reads in full, “Concerned Iwoland Youth For Actualization of Iwolookan Agenda 2018 is a coalition of more than 60 youth based clubs, organizations and associations in Iwoland championing the cause of Iwoland agenda (Iwoland producing the next Governor of Osun State after Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola)
Iwoland is made of three local governments (Ayedire, Iwo and Ola-Oluwa LGs). Iwoland has a population of over 500,000 and a voting strength of over 100,000.
“Iwoland is recognized as the seat of political activities even before the first republic. This can be substantiated from the fact that one of the maiden inaugural meetings of AG was held in Iwo.
“Iwo has continued to dominate the political terrain of western region with people like Prince Alade Lamuye, Barr Eniola Atanda and host of other sons and daughters of Iwoland taking a leading role in the political space of Western region.
“Iwo suffered most during the post election violence of 1983. Hundreds of houses were burnt in Iwo, tenths of lives were lost and properties worth millions of naira were lost
Despite taking the lead in the political struggle of Western Nigeria and Nigeria at large , Iwo has continued to be marginalized when it comes to power Sharing and dividends of democracy.
“Barr Eniola was victimised and eventually Imprisoned in 1983, a man that was in the right position to clinch the governorship ticket of UPN in 1983. He later died after much frustration. The same thing applicable to Chief Aderibigbe in 1991. He was the most popular candidate then, but he was denied the ticket.
“In 1951, Iwo was the fifth most populous city in Nigeria, only coming behind Kano, Ibadan, Enugu and Ogbomoso. It has one of the strongest economy in the country. Right now, the story has changed to worse due to continuous neglect from the political class.
“Iwo Federal Constituency remains the only Constituency in Osun state without any federal government presence (No federal government school, agency or parastatals).
“Iwo Federal Constituency remains the only federal Constituency in Osun that has never produced governor, Deputy governor, Principal Position in both Federal and state house of Assembly, Minister or Ambassador.
“The marginalization has continued to affect the social and economic development of the constituency and her people. Even in term of meaningful development in the state, Iwo is lagging behind.
“Our roads are bad. Pipe borne water has stopped running in Iwo for decades now. And successive governments have done nothing to ameliorate the deplorable situation of things in Iwoland.
“We have been used and dumped for decades. We are only relevant during election and become moribund immediately after election. Must this deliberate neglect continue?
“The entire Iwoland Youth has come together to make one demand. The next Governor of the state after Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola must come from Iwoland.
“Despite our influential roles in the emergence of every government since creation of Osun State in 1991, we’ve continued to play second fiddle in the political realms. We feel the time to lead has come. Neither persuasion nor negotiation will lure us this time around. We are mentally and physically prepared to achieve this onerous agenda.
“Our agitation is timely and appropriate. Our agitation is politically correct by convention of all political parties in the state and in fairness, equity and justice.
“Any political party that pick Iwo indigene will to his party and candidate credited with more than 100,000 votes from Iwoland.
“Our political acumen of the headquarters of Osun West (Iwo) prior to the carving out of the state from Oyo State positioned Iwo as the bastion of progressive governance in the western region as acknowledged by many political analysts.
“All major political party in the state should note that we can confidently boast of eminently qualified and competent Iwoland indigenes who are active members of the party at all levels, likewise we have technocrats who have what it takes to run Osun State and ready to fly the flag of your political party in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.
“Major groups in Iwoland have continued to launch their intentions that Iwolokan is not negotiable. We are due for it in all considerations of working variables. They have sent powerful signals to the leading political parties in the state to respect convention or risk failure in the September 22 test of popularity.
“This press conference /rally on the gross marginalization in spite of Iwoland huge contributions and investments in the promotion of democracy in the state and Nigeria and its rich political base to deceptively regarded Iwo as second home by most of the politicians who are not indigenes of Iwo. This agitation is to let the political parties and the public know what is at stake if Iwo is not considered this time around.
“Any political party that field Iwoland indigene as her candidate will be adopted as our party and all resources will be mobilized to make sure such party win come September.
“Enough is enough. Unless our voice is addressed, the unexpected in history may happen.”
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