The Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has set up a Committee to resolve the lingering leadership crisis within the Benue community in the state.
Gov. Oyetola, while inaugurating the committee yesterday in Osogbo at a meeting with the leaders of Benue indigenes residing in the state, also directed the warring factions to withdraw all court cases for peace to reign.
Benue indigenes residing in the state had been engulfed in deep crisis with two factions laying claim to leadership/.
Oyetola, represented at the meeting by his Special Adviser on Civic Engagement, Mr. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, noted that Osun as a peaceful state and had given room for indigenes and non-indigenes to live in harmony.
He said: ‘’Osun is known as a peaceful state and a responsible and responsive government. We will always ensure a peaceful environment for both indigenes and non-indigenes.
‘’We have to sustain the peace and not give room for any crisis and this is the essence of this meeting’’.
The committee was chaired by the Commissioner for the Environment and Sanitation, Mr. Sola Oladepo, while Commissioner for Political Matters and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Taiwo Akeju, was the Vice-Chairman. The Special Adviser on Security, Mrs. Abiodun Ige, served as the Secretary.
The two factions are also expected to nominate five persons each as their representatives in the committee.
Oyetola, while appealing to the Benue community in the state to continue to support his peace-loving administration, also urged them to support his re-election come July 16.
In their separate addresses, Oladepo, Akeju, and Ige appealed to the factions to unite and agree on a consensus leader for peaceful co-existence.
In his response, a factional leader of the group, Chief Audu Samson, appreciated the state government’s prompt intervention in the crisis.
He assured the governor of a prompt and amicable resolution to the crisis, adding that the Benue community will support the governor’s re-election ambition.
Also speaking, the leader of the second group, Chief Augustine Tsor, described the government’s intervention as a welcome development.