Stop Politicising The Issue, Osun Indigenes Were Also Deported From Lagos; Osun Govt Tells Anambra

Following the outcry by some Igbo leaders on the deportation of some destitute from Lagos back to their home state, the Osun State government has declared that it was also a victim of the same fate suffered by Anambra State, and therefore cautioned the Anambra State government against politicising the issue.

Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of Osun State 

At a joint press conference by the officials of the state government and APC in Osogbo, yesterday, the government claimed that between April 27, 2010 and now about 135 indigenes of the state that were destitute have been moved from Lagos to the state.

In the same manner, the state government said it had equally received two persons each who were indigenes of the state from Ogun and Ondo states on April 16, last year while four persons were also sent from Oyo State to the state in June this year.

“There is no bitterness or any sensation about this. It is routine administrative process, that when you have a destitute on your hand, without home or family, and after doing your best for them you send them to their people”.

“In Osun, we have similar programme of clearing the streets of beggars and the destitute. Those that can be empowered are given the needed assistance to be on their own. We are also going to resettle them one way or the other,” both the Acting Chairman of the APC in the state, Elder Adelowo Adebiyi and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Youths, Sports and Special Needs, Hon. Biyi Odunlade and other government officials who spoke at the press conference argued.

The APC chiefs and top government officials described the condemnation of the Lagos State government policy on the relocation of the destitute by the Anambra State government as unfortunate, maintaining that the action of the Lagos state government did not conflict with the constitution and God’s given right of people to live and work in any place of their choice within the country, adding that there was a large population of non-indigenes living and working in Lagos.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state therefore asked the Anambra State government to bury its anger on the matter and stop turning the issue into a serious political matter because of the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state.