BOUNDARY DEMARCATION ANOMALY AND THE BACKLASH OF ELECTORAL DAMAGE TO THE RULING PARTY IN THE NORTH OF EGBE- IDIMU LCDA

OPEN LETTER 2 TO PRINCE BALOGUN, GOV SANWO-OLU AND SPEAKER OBASA

By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh

FIRST this writer should be grateful for the reach of this Civics Weekly platform. Not only that the President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu reads it and holds it as a reliable voice of Alimosho, it is also evidently assured that the BOS of Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also sees it as a light. It is one reason the medium is always conscious of publishing evidence based fact in line with requirement of ethical journalism, even though it strives to pioneer "Perspective Journalism", which Olatunji Dare, former Chairman of The Nation's Editorial Board once argued to be long overdue in coming to Nigeria. In its small deeds from its remote corridor of Lagos State, let the candle of grace keep burning for its cherished value to be sustained.

Back to our mission here, the first part of this essay was about the Western Boundary of Egbe-Idimu LCDA shared with Igando/Ikotun LCDA. It was explained and established that Egbe-Idimu had a substantial share in the landmass of Ikotun Market, already delineated by a historical river feature that turned to a main drainage channel called IPI Canal today. In this ‘Part 2’, we are directing our attention to another part of boundary anomaly that has become inimical to justice for Egbe-Idimu LCDA. At this corridor, however, a larger picture of the anomaly in backlash of electoral liability it has become to the ruling APC is being brought to the front burner. Interestingly, this happens to be about application of artificial boundary features like road and institutional infrastructure. This footloose research work found this fate of the Council in its Northern Boundary shared with Alimosho Local Government.

To lay the foundation for this discuss, we shall look at how precedence had been set in giving preference to the use of artificial road feature to natural river feature. It goes that the use of major road as boundary feature has numerous precedence and authority in the previous creation of local governments in Lagos State. For one as Project Alimosho Heritage (PAH) revealed out of its historical research works, Oki village in Iyana Ipaja originally belonged to Alaagba community of the ancient Orile Agegi (that became Agege today). With the construction of Lagos-Abeokuta Express Way, originally as New Agege Motor Road, Oki Village became ceded off to become part of Alimosho LGA.

Similarly, when Alimosho was divided into six, the Alashua River that, sort of, connects the stretch of River Abesan from Ipaja to Aboru River in flow to Agege via Pleasure ought to have been the natural feature to use in placing Oki and Kokumo communities as part of the new Alimosho LGA (being Egbeda/Akowonjo). As a matter of fact, this Alashua River especially has a deep gully portion wide and expansive enough to make a good and fair basis for Oki never to belong to Agbado-Okeodo LCDA.

But to use this natural feature here would have marked the two communities of Kokumo and Oki into a free zone bounded by stretch of the river and the New Ipaja Road. Therefore, the latter (New Ipaja Road) was to be reasonably adopted as the boundary feature that eventually ceded them to Agbado/Okeodo LCDA and gifted the part of Abesan around this river corridor to Mosan/Okunola.

Going outside Alimosho in trail of this precedence, it may not be known to many that of the post-military era matured minds that Mushin Local Government of today once encompassed Somolu, Oshodi, Isolo and even in stretch to Kosofe. It was the construction of new Ikrordu Road from Yaba that made a pointer to creation of Somolu LG with the new Highway making the demarcation boundary. That was on the Eastern side of the Mushin LG. The Apapa-Oshodi Highway was to also excise Oshodi-Isolo LG from that Mushin in the Western side.

HOW DOES ALL THIS EXPLAIN THE ANOMALY IN EGBE-IDIMU NORTHERN BOUNDARY CASE? It goes that in the Northern Boundary of Egbe-Idimu LCDA, whatever historical facts or landmark feature applied to cede Taiwo Street and the northern extremity of Omuaran to Alimisho (Egbeda/Okunola) LG surely defies all reasonable logic of boundary demarcation. In this North of Idimu Kingdom, the boundary features used are largely road infrastructure and the institutional perimeter fencing of the Airforce Barack. It is only unfortunate that the application of road feature here would be so defective enough for distraught.

Interestingly, the visible demarcating features are internal road arteries in this case. This may inform a presumption that a complementary argument of imaginary boundary based on oral historical narrations as to where the once ancient Oko Idimu(Idimu Farm settlement turned Egbeda Kingdom) began and end as to make its contemporary boundary with Idimu here. To give vent to this, a careful analysis of the Omuaran exit gate to Unity Lane, the waterlogging part at this point, would possibly suggest it to be an ancient time river path valley between Egbeda and Idimu. But where boundary dispute is to be avoided, this possibility of an ancient fact to argue by imagination can never be made to stand for a boundary feature, especially where a major road now exists for a visible alternative. But if application of this imaginary narration were to be the case, a seething ground for an eruptible latent anarchy could not have been better emplaced. The chaos may not have been brought to the fore because of the nature of the area as enlightened community. Well, this is not to ignore the somewhat docility of the successful Egbe-Idimu LCDA administrators to count for indulgence of the anomaly.

In the several voices of boundary experts sought by this writer, it is reasonably conclusive that “nowhere a place desirous of peace should a closed internal road quadrangle arteries making up the extremity or end of one community be made to start the inner side boundary of its neighbouring community”. In this case, it is even more an aberration to cut off a gated extremity of a street (Omuaran) in this quadrangle of Egbe-Idimu and make it to belong to Alimosho (see the map extract below). Whatever politics played out to bring this forth was insensitive and anarchical in conception. Therefore, to put it rightly in summation: having this in place here could have been a serious recipe for anarchy in other climes, especially where the community youths could see sources of income in levies like tenement rate and the poorly tapped radio and television revenue resources.

THE VISIBLE AND RIGHT ALTERNATIVE BOUNDARY TO ADOPT It is to be noted more importantly that near and before entry into these quadrangle streets used for the boundary demarcation is a major road – Olugbede Road – which has the aforementioned Unity Lane as its first branch artery to the right, inward Isiba Oluwo (another major road). Also see the Streets Map extract from ®Barlade Cartographers above. Curiously, the Taiwo Street links the Omuaran end to jointly open to this Unity Lane in no more a significant measure except for the enlargement that came now with the ongoing construction of Omuaran Street. Thus, the question to ask now: Why not use the Unity Lane as the boundary boundary demarcation road?

THE DAMAGE TO ELECTORAL VALUE DONE TO THE RULING PARTY The backlash of this abnormality, outside the count of injustice done to Egbe-Idimu, is the broader electoral liability it has become to the ruling progressives. To state it clearly for fact here, the unresolved boundary issues in this corridor always return to haunt the ruling progressives at every election cycle. This is not any hearsay, but an issue this writer always had to address at every electioneering period.

The complaint from the residents of Taiwo Street and Onisemo Close was always how they had been suffering the consequences of this unclear boundary through denial of government’s presence, particularly in rehabilitation of the road. For fact, the Streets have been deemed a no-territory Zone. This was to be so proven to my instant knowledge when the immediate past Chairman of Egbe-Idimu LCDA, Hon Kunle Sanyaolu Olowoopejo, once came to carry out major internal roads’ rehabilitations in the Unity Estate under his direct supervision. See the photo below.

Thus, of course, their suffering and complaints may also be viable in gauging the potential weight of electoral backlash the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) continues to suffer at every turn of election. The pyrrhic victory the party always got at polling units 047 and 048 was always at great burden to the unity Zone members of ward B (Idimu Central Ward). It is an unquestionable fact that these polling units serve exclusively the electoral obligations of the residents in this streets quadrangle.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could therefore be deemed to have made a statement of supporting evidence in favour of Egbe-Idimu by delineating these PUs as belonging to this Idimu Ward. Of course, INEC could not have done so without the input advice or its formal knowledge of the position of National Boundary Commission. The understanding of this as the fact should go to the extent of why PU 046 along the same line of ‘Off Aminu Ajibode’ (at Ajibode Street Junction) is delineated as belonging to Alimosho LG (see Map extract below).

It is graceful that the State Government has stepped in to address the problem of Omuaran Road dipidation, which is sure to enhance the electoral value for the ruling party in this corridor. The boundary anomaly is however an isolated case, which requires the initiatives of the Executive Chairman of Egbe-Idimu LCDA to address. Doing this is rationally what governance is all about. The residents of this affected streets’ quadrangle surely have their worries about government’s neglect. It falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the local council to allay their worries. This is why the ball has rolled into the court of Hon (Prince) Idris Balogun to take the steps to give these isolated residents their right of sense of belonging to Egbe-Idimu LCDA.