The prevalent inter-clan disputes between Otta and Egba indigenes over land and chieftaincy matters in the corridor of Ado-Oddo Otta Local Government Area of Ogun State will soon become a thing of the past.
This is as a result of the current interlocutory mediation initiated by the Olowu of Owu Abeokuta, Oba (Prof.) Saka Adelola Matemilola and Olota of Ota, Oba (Prof.) Adeyemi Obalanlege.
Both traditional rulers have engaged in series of interactions overtime to create a pathfinder for sustainable peaceful solutions to the endemic crisis.
A persistent controversy on whether Iju town should be called Iju Gbaalefa or Iju Otta has remained a recurring decimal, turning the inter-lining city Otta and Owode on Idiroko Road into a red flag zone.
Anecdotal narratives constantly recall that Iju town was a war camp of the Owu militia in the Egba Allied Forces that routed the marauding Dahomey soldiers into Abeokuta and environs in the 15th cèntury.
Iju, according to the archival narratives is a Yoruba name for "uninhabited thick forest" where Akindele Gbaalefa, leader of the Owu militia, representing the Egba Allied Forces settled to strategise for the prosecution of the war against the interlopers.
But in response to an SOS call by Ado Odo to the British Authorities to save the domain from Egba routing forces, the British Evangelist in Abeokuta, Henry Townsend was reportedly dispatched to mediate and secure peace in the corridor.
Townsend's intervention as recorded resulted in the delineation of Iju and several villages outside Otta, spreading to Oke-Ore named it Gbaalefa Peninsula and ceded it to the Egba as "spoil of war" which has remained so since 15th century.
The Otta pepple, however remain in constant protest and denial of this archival records and insist Iju and all villages so named Gbaalefa Peninsula remain Otta land.
This contention has often polarised the Egba and Awori inhabitants of the zone with land speculators and politicians fuelling series of conflicts resulting in the loss of property and life.
To find a lasting solution to the constant breaches of peace in the domain, penultimate weekend, the Olowu and Olota accompanied by their surrogate Obas and chiefs held a village square in Iju Township with the nonagerian Oba Iju, Olufemi Sodeinde on seat.
Stakeholders from both camps identified "greed an avarice" as the cause of the constant breaches of peace in the corridor, particularly by land speculators and politicians who engage in divide and rule principle to reach their goals.
They argued that the inhabitants of the area since the 15th century until this contemporary period were one people from different clans and they lived together in peace without acromony of any type.
"Why is it now when all those who lived together in love without discrimination are no more that these generations of contentious offsprings mutilating identity and history to grab other people's property by force", they asked rhetorically.
Both Olota and Olowu pleaded with the audience which comprised Baales from several villages within the corridor to remain patient and keep peace.
The traditional rulers told the gathering that some key people in the community of both groups have been called into a committee to deliberate on all relevant issues with a view to providing solutions.
They assured the people that their current action was in concurrent approval of the Alake and paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo.