By Haruna Salami
The senator representing Delta North, Ned Nwoko has disclosed that senators from Delta, South East and other stakeholders have lend their support to the creation of Anioma state to correct perceived marginalisation of south east geo-political zone.
It will be recalled that a bill to create Anioma state had passed first reading in the Senate on July 2.
Speaking in an interview in Abuja on Wednesday, the sponsor of the bill, Nwoko said the bill seeks to alter provisions of 1999 Constitution (as amended) to create Anioma state.
Senator Nwoko said the south-east geopolitical zone currently has five states, unlike its counterparts, which have six each, except for the North- West, which has seven states.
Revealing that the creation of Anioma state has received wide support from major stakeholders, Nwoko said the two other senators from Delta state, Ede Dafinone (Delta Central and Joel-Onowakpo Thomas (Delta South) support the creation of the state. For me, that is a big support.
“I have gotten support from most of the senators from the south east as well and I know that I will get support from across the country.
“The Izu Anioma, which is the umbrella group of all Aniomas are saying we want it, the Ikpe Anioma says we want it.”
Nwoko dismissed report by a group alleging that he did not consult wildly before presenting the bill for creation of Anioma state for first reading.
He said the call for creation of Anioma state was timely and has to happen for various reasons, adding that the eventual creation will address years of concerns, challenges of Ndigbo in Nigeria.
“The most important one is that there is the urgent need to address the injustice, the years of crying of marginalisation by Ndigbo generally.
“It is a huge population in Nigeria, but they only have five states, and so, it will make six states of Ndigbo.
“It is a very long fight, for the quest for Anioma has taken 50 years from the time of Dennis Osadebe.
“There may not be many states created in Nigeria under this dispensation, but certainly, there is an urgent need to create one to address the imbalance.
“It is hoped that when it is done it will assuage the cries of the Igbos because since after the war there has been so many cries of been marginalised of injustice.
“So it is only equitable that it is done because it will deal with the crisis, the killings the violence, the seat at home issues among other issues.”
He said there was the need to bring a lasting solution to issues in the region. “We are looking at finding the solution to crisis, you don’t create a state for the fun of it, no, you create a state to address a particular issue of concern”.
He said Nigeria now has a president who is determined to right wrongs of the past, because it is important to do so and “the government want to solve the problem of the south east”.
