The Logic Of Anioma As Igbo State

At the heart of Senator Ned Nwoko’s tireless campaign for the creation of Anioma State is not just a political proposal, but a historic and moral reckoning. In a country still grappling with how best to reflect federal character, regional equity, and ethnic justice, the Anioma agitation represents more than cartographic surgery—it is a loud cry for integration, identity, and inclusion.

That Senator Ned Nwoko has placed himself at the vanguard of this agitation is no accident; it is the inevitable continuation of a legacy rooted in heritage, sacrifice, and statesmanship. It is a historical quest that began by the respected statesman Chief Osadebe of the Blessed memory over six decades back.

One time head of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria Professor Sylvester Monye, who is from Anioma, backs the agitation for Anioma state as Igbo state as follows: “The recent revival of the demand for the creation of Anioma State, essentially driven by Senator Ned Nwoko, is in keeping with the aspiration of our people.

The demand for the creation of Anioma state has been long-standing and must rank as one of the oldest agitations in the political history of Nigeria. Political detractors would want you to believe that Senator Nwoko’s interest in the Anioma State movement is just for his politics. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The agitation has always been driven by the Anioma people who are of Igbo descent and reside in the northern part of Delta State.

The Anioma people, though located in Delta State, share a distinct Igbo cultural identity that is remarkably different from the Urhobo and Itsekiri ethnic groups in the state.

This distinctive demand has enjoyed the support of all well-meaning persons in that enclave.

The very term, Anioma, coined by the illustrious Chief (Dr) Dennis Osadebay as far back as 1951, has remained the unchanging acronym by which this area has been identified, Professor Monye affirmed.

To understand the gravity of what Senator Nwoko is doing, one must first appreciate that the Anioma people—nine local government areas of Delta State—are Igbo by ethnicity, language, and culture, yet politically detached from their kith and kin in the South-East.

This dislocation, birthed by geopolitical arrangement and entrenched by political manoeuvring, has left Anioma as an island of Igbo identity marooned in the South-South region.

It is this historical and political injustice that Senator Nwoko’s Anioma State bill seeks to correct—by joining Anioma with the Southeast to complete the zone’s state count to six, and thus give Ndigbo a fairer stake in the federation.

For those who question the motive or sincerity of the senator, the facts speak for themselves. Nwoko is not a political novice; he is a seasoned legislator, a lawyer of international repute, and a former member of the House of Representatives.

He is also not a desperate man on the hunt for a governorship seat—he has repeatedly stated he will not contest to gov- ern the proposed Anioma State. What then motivates his agitation?

The answer lies in his lineage and his legacy. His grandfather, HRH Obi Nwoko 1, was not only a royal father in Idumuje Ugboko but also a committed founding member of the Igbo Union, the very plat- form that eventually metamorphosed into Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

Senator Nwoko’s campaign is therefore not personal; it is intergenerational. It is a modern fulfilment of a vision first carried by his forebears.

Critics like former Delta State governor Senator Ifeanyi Okowa have failed to grasp—or deliberately ignore—the symbolic and strategic implications of Anioma State joining the Southeast.

Okowa’s opposition, thinly veiled under the guise of geopolitical loyalty to the South-South, is neither principled nor patriotic. It is a self-serving attempt to retain control over a people he no longer governs, and whose political aspirations he now seeks to stifle.

If Okowa is truly in support of Anioma State, as he claims, why oppose its logical alignment with the Southeast—a region to which Anioma belongs by every historical, linguistic, and ethnic marker?

The truth is that Okowa’s objection is not rooted in federal logic or concern for national cohesion. It is about power.

If Anioma becomes the sixth state in the Southeast, the Delta political empire Okowa built will shrink overnight. His influence, once unassailable in Delta North, would be rendered peripheral.

In essence, it is not the map he wants to preserve; it is his dominion. And in seeking to preserve that power, he now aligns— whether knowingly or not—with those forces that have historically denied Ndigbo equal representation at the national table.

Already a whooping number of 91 Senators have endorsed Anioma state. But Senator Nwoko has chosen to walk a different path. Against orchestrated blackmail, institutional sabotage, and even outright threats, he continues to push forward the bill for Anioma State. And he does so with the full armour of a statesman.

As a sitting senator, Nwoko has shown legislative output that is among the highest in the 10th Senate—sponsoring 31 bills and over 20 motions within just two years.

These bills are not symbolic tokens; they address national priorities such as economic sovereignty, digital accountability, social security, defence decentralization, and electoral reform.

Among his most significant proposals are the Diaspora Voting Bill, which seeks to enfranchise millions of Nigerians abroad; the Nigerian Social Security Agency Bill, which offers a structured response to poverty and unemployment; the Central Bank Act Amendment, which prohibits local trans- actions in foreign currency to preserve the naira; and the Nigerian Defence Academy Bill, which proposes a new NDA campus in Kwale to promote regional inclusion in military training. These are not the acts of a man seeking a provincial kingdom. These are the pursuits of a man driven by a national conscience.