ELDER statesman, Obi (Senator) Nosike Ikpo, who is among the eminent Deltans that absolved former President Ibrahim Babaginda of blame in siting the capital of Delta State, carved out of the defunct Bendel State, in 1991, in Asaba, added another dimension to the raging controversy, last week, when he told Sunday Vanguard that any Anioma (Delta North Senatorial District) indigene that votes against Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in the April polls is voting for the enslavement of the Anioma race.
He, however, said it was the stalemate between Sapele and Abraka, which scored five votes each in the battle for the capital of Delta State, and the refusal of the interest groups to backdown for each other that paved the way for Asaba to become the state capital, as the logjam was taken to the defunct Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), for resolution.
I imagine that the recent controversy about the creation of Delta State is intended to cover up the unprecedented demonstration of hatred by the Urhobo ethnic nationality for Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan in the recent governorship re-run in Delta State.
I saw it coming. When the senator representing the Delta Central Senatorial District, which area is coterminous with Urhobo nation, resigned from the platform on which he was elected to the Senate, I smelt some trouble coming, but a PDP leader dismissed the ugly development as good riddance for bad rubbish. When the results of the re-run election was announced, my hunch were proved right.
Today, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan is about the only person bearing the full brunt of James Ibori’s eight years rulership in Delta State. But, we know that many poor men and women in Urhoboland before 1999 became multi-millionaires during those glorious years. They didn’t have to know Ibori; all they needed was to show their identification as Urhobo. In spite of that, not even the political office holders in Uduaghan’s administration were able to persuade their local governments to vote for PDP in the re-run except Chief Ighohota Amori, who is now the renege of Urhobo nationalism.
All the commentators on the creation of Delta State seem to forget that states creation is a constitutional matter. Section 8 of the Constitution of Nigeria sets out the conditions which those who want states have to satisfy before states can be created under a civilian regime. But, agitation for creation of states did not start with Babangida’s administration. Babangida merely inherited the uncompleted work of the Shagari’s administration on creation of states.
Many communities desirous to have states created for them submitted requests for same to the second republic National Assembly. I personally presented the case for the creation of Anioma State out of Bendel State. Hon. Abubakar Tugar, as chairman of the Second Republic House of Representatives Committee on States Creation, took a tour of the Anioma area to ascertain the authenticity of the signatures of all the councillors of the nine local government areas and those of the members of the Bendel State House of Assembly as well as other claims made by the Anioma State Movement of which I was the leader, in support of our case for Anioma State. Tugar’s committee did not visit any local government area in the core Delta because no request came from the area.
As the senator representing Bendel East which was coterminous with the Anioma area, and leader of the Anioma State Movement, I defended the case for the creation of Anioma State before the National Assembly Committee (Joint Committee of House and Senate) under the chairmanship of Senator Barkin Zuwo.
At the conclusion of the committee’s work, Anioma State was recommended for a referendum, and the core Delta areas also considered qualified to be made a state called Delta State. Thus, three new states emerged from the old Bendel State as a result of the recommendation for the creation of Anioma State. It only remained for the Anioma area to go for a referendum before the military took over the Shagari’s administration.
When General Babangida took over the machinery of government, the enormity of the agitation for states creation stared him in the face. All the communities across the country who wanted states shifted their agitations to AFRC with the dissolution of the National Assembly and banning of state movements along with political parties. Applications for states creation were now addressed to the Armed Forces Ruling Council.
To pursue the creation of Anioma and Delta states as recommended by the defunct National Assembly, representatives of Anioma State Movement and some leaders of the core Delta were brought together in a joint committee under the chairmanship of the late Israel Amadi Emina. Dr. George Orewa and Francis Halim among others from Anioma were also members of that committee. Senator E. K. Clark, Professor Okobah and Dr. Esiri, among others, from core Delta area were also members. That committee met in the residence of Dr. Esiri, at Abraka. The mandate of the committee was to midwife the creation of Anioma and Delta states.
When it became apparent that the military was not disposed to creating three new states from Bendel, the committee was charged to propose a headquarters of one new state for Anioma and core Delta area. Five towns were nominated, namely: Warri, Sapele, Ughelli, Abraka and Kwale. There was no nomination from Isoko and Ijaw areas respectively. Votes were cast for the five nominated towns. Sapele and Abraka scored five votes each. None was ready to step down for the other. The committee then transferred their dilemma to AFRC to decide.
I did not read Prof. Omo Omoruyi’s interview in the Sun newspaper where he was alleged to have said that Orkar’s attempted coup deprived Urhobo from getting the capital of Delta State. But, it was widely-rumoured that when Abraka, the proposed capital of Delta State, was being seriously considered, a member of AFRC reminded Babangida that Abraka was the birthplace of Great Ogboru who was alleged to be involved in the attempted overthrow of Babangida in the failed coup of April 1990.
The siting of the headquarters of Delta State in Asaba underlined the wisdom of Babangida as an administrator. How could a wise leader christen a state created for two areas by the name of one area and site the headquarters of the state in the same area? Naming Asaba as the capital of Delta State was not a mistake on the part of Babangida. If anything, it was intended to placate the Anioma people for forcing them to answer a name that does not belong to them. This can be better appreciated if it can be recalled that the compromised name that the Anioma Core-Delta Joint Committee that midwifed the creation of Delta State was Lower Niger State. It was, however, rumoured that one senior army officer of Urhobo origin influenced the adoption of the name ‘Delta’ as the name of the new state. We now know from Prof. Sam Oyovbaire’s account that he was responsible for naming Delta State as a result of his membership of the AFRC as the then minister of information during Babangida’s administration.
We all have learnt from Urhobo nationalism. Any Anioma man or woman who, in the April election, votes against Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan is voting for servitude and enslavement. All Anioma votes must go to Uduaghan, not necessarily because he is the PDP candidate, but because voting for him and ensuring his victory is the only guarantee that one of your own will be governor of Delta State in our life time.
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