AWKA/Nigeria: Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North Senatorial District at the National Assembly, has renewed calls for the continued support of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo in the ongoing quest for the creation of Anioma State.
Speaking as Chairman of the 2025 World Igbo Day celebration organized by the apex Igbo socio-cultural body on Monday in Awka, Anambra State, Nwoko, represented by Ogbueshi Godfrey Odogwu, Director General of the Technical Committee on Anioma State Creation, stressed that Anioma people share a common heritage and language with the Igbo in the South-East.
He urged unity, peace, and social harmony among Ndigbo and Nigerians in general, while tracing the historical roots of the Anioma agitation. According to him, the demand for Anioma State dates back to 1954 when nationalist and first Premier of the old Midwest Region, Sir Dennis Osadebay, submitted a request for the West Niger Province to be carved out of the old Benin and Warri Provinces.
“For the past seventy years, Anioma Igbo have never missed an opportunity to push for statehood as a matter of self-determination to end decades of marginalization and injustice,” he said. “Since my election in 2023, after wide consultations with Anioma leaders, 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.”
Nwoko emphasized that the move was intended to rebalance the Nigerian federal structure, enhance political representation for Anioma people, and fast-track socio-economic and infrastructural development.
Expressing satisfaction with the progress so far, he disclosed that the bill had passed both first and second readings in the Senate and had received presentations of memoranda at public hearings in Ikot Ekpene and Enugu last July. He further revealed that over ninety senators across Nigeria had already expressed support for the bill, with a third reading and referendum expected as the next steps.
“Help Ndi Anioma Igbo to end this seventy-year-old quest,” he appealed. “Let us rise with one voice to say we are proud to be Igbo, bonded in one destiny.”
The Senator commended the creativity, resilience, and entrepreneurial spirit of the Igbo people, calling on Ohaneze Ndi Igbo to continue to champion peaceful coexistence in Igbo land and Nigeria at large.
“I join you to celebrate Igbo God-given capacity for creativity, enterprise, wisdom, dignity, hard work, and resilience. We have a sacred duty to promote law and order toward the continued greatness of the Igbo world,” Nwoko said.
The well-attended event featured prominent dignitaries, including Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo, President General of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo Worldwide, Senator John Azuta Mbata, as well as socio-cultural groups from the South-East states and delegates from Anioma.
