Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North Senatorial District at the National Assembly, has called on Ohanaeze Ndigbo to sustain its support for the creation of Anioma State.
Speaking in Awka, Anambra State, on Monday as chairman of the 2025 World Igbo Day celebration organized by the apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Senator Nwoko, represented by Ogbueshi Godfrey Odogwu, Director-General of the Technical Committee on Anioma State Creation, emphasized that the people of Anioma share a common heritage and language with the Igbo of the South-East.
He urged unity, peace, and social harmony among the Igbo and Nigerians at large, stressing that state creation would strengthen equity in Nigeria’s federal structure.
A Longstanding Demand
Tracing the history of the agitation, Senator Nwoko recalled:
“We have been agitating for our own state, Anioma State, since 1954, when one of our most celebrated sons, the great nationalist and first Premier of the Midwest Region, Sir Dennis Osadebay, submitted a request for the West Niger Province (Anioma) to be carved out of the old Benin and Warri Provinces.
“In the last seventy years, Anioma Igbo have not missed any opportunity to file a request for state creation—a demand for self-determination and statehood to end decades of marginalization and injustice.
“The actualization of this dream was deferred until I was elected to the Senate in 2023. After wide consultations with Anioma stakeholders, including traditional rulers, professional bodies, youth and student associations, women groups, and our people in the diaspora, I sponsored a bill for the creation of Anioma State as the 37th state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Progress at the National Assembly
Senator Nwoko expressed delight that the bill for Anioma State has already passed its first and second readings in the Senate.
He further disclosed that memoranda were presented during public hearings in Ikot Ekpene and Enugu in July, adding that the bill currently enjoys the backing of over 90 senators across the country.
“The passage of the bill at third reading and the subsequent referendum will bring us closer to ending this seventy-year-old quest. Let us rise with one voice and say we are proud to be Igbo, bonded in one destiny,” he declared.
Call for Unity and Enterprise
Senator Nwoko commended the entrepreneurial spirit of the Igbo, urging Ohanaeze Ndigbo to continue championing peaceful coexistence across the South-East and Nigeria at large.
“I join you in celebrating the God-given creativity, enterprise, wisdom, dignity, hard work, and resilience of the Igbo. We are dream-makers and achievers, with a sacred duty to promote law, order, and progress for the continued greatness of our people,” he said.
The event was attended by several dignitaries, including Anambra State Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Senator John Azuta Mbata, and delegations from Anioma communities as well as socio-cultural groups across the five South-East states.
