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By Iwemdi Nwaham

My attention has been drawn to a rejoinder written by one Frank Iroroh, to my post about a week ago which I titled, NED NWOKO, OKOWA, SHERIFF: BEYOND ALL THE FACADE, SOMEONE WILL GET BADLY HURT. Mr. Iroroh came at me with insults and abuses and scornful remarks. He gave two proverbs in Ika language that makes me sense that he may be of the same Ika origin as myself.

Reading through his entire piece, I make bold to say that Mr. Iroroh is a young man in his 40s or at most 50s. And for pouring unwarranted invectives on me, just to please his benefactor, over an issue of fundamental existential and generational importance to us, shows the disturbing nature of the crisis we face, without many knowing that we are confronted with a looming crisis of monumental proportions.

As usual, I am not going to descend to the level of the said Mr. Iroroh. Additionally, I shall make strenuous effort to be as clear and as explicit as possible, even if it will make my response long. This is time for clarity of purpose, not pushing everybody on the head to move on, amidst obvious cloudiness of the mission ahead.

I am going to focus on only one issue in Mr. Iroroh’s abusive defence of what our dear senator, Prince Ned Nwoko is doing and has done over the Anioma state creation, that he is championing. It is important now to keep our eyes on the main subject and avoid distractions by insufficiently knowledgeable and poorly informed persons.

Mr. Iroroh reproduced what he called “A Review of Senator Ned Nwoko’s Bill on The Creation of Anioma State”, from an earlier publication he made, which in all likelihood, he got from the senator himself. And Mr. Iroroh categorically said, “I did let Anioma people know that there were no clauses in the bill suggesting the geopolitical zone Anioma state should be placed”. Going further in his current rejoinder under focus, Mr. Iroroh reproduced the bill (or excerpts of it) in his writeup. And indeed, nowhere in what was published as the Ned Nwoko bill for the creation of Anioma State, was it indicated the geopolitical zone this Anioma state in the works (that is heating up our polity, tearing Anioma land apart, having elders and seniors who call for caution and clarification insulted and abused), would be. And herein lies the deep seated fright some of us have, a premonition that harbingers a grave danger lying ahead. What is really happening?

Before Delta State was created out of the then Bendel State in 1991, the geographical expression of the land mass that will be Delta State was known and delineated. This is how it happened; the local government areas that would make up the new Delta State were deliberated upon everywhere and agreed on. Towenty five (25) LGAs were gazetted.

Before 1991, Ika land was one local government with headquarter at Agbor. Then encouragement was given for Ika local government to be split into two. Before then, Ika land was recognised to be comprised of three components namely, Ika South (Agbor and Abavo), Ika North (the entire Owa) and Ika East (Akumazi, Igbodo, Mbiri, Otolokpo, Umunede, Ute-Ogbeje, Ute-Okpu, etc). Various meetings were held at the various home fronts and across the nation and across the nation, before 1991, by traditional rulers, town Unions, etc., and agreements or ascents were given to group discussions.

I am old enough to know (because I was involved) that all the traditional rulers and towns unions in Ika East led by their president generals, agreed to have Ika East as a separate and distinct local government area with headquarter in Umunede. It was almost sealed when Owa came pleading to be carried along and they were included. Thus came the birth of Ika North East LGA. The component parts of this Ika NE LGA were delineated and submitted to the state government then, for onward transmission to the then federal military government. At the point of announcement of the new states to be created in Nigeria in 1991, Delta State was announced as well as the component LGAs. Ika North East LGA was announced but with headquarter at Owa Oyibu, instead of what was agreed in all the discussions and submitted. The intrigues of the swap in a military regime, is outside the scope of this writeup.

What I want to draw attention to above is the process of state creation or local government creation. Whether under military regime or under civilian democracy, the processes are largely the same. Suffices to say that there is jaw jaw (talk talk, wide consultations) and alignments and realignments and agreements by the elites of the communities at the time, before the geographical expression of the place in question can be definitively expressed on paper and submitted. Then it becomes a document for everyone in that geographical expression to carry, propagate and defend. And it is at this stage that the senator representing us for instance would carry the document under his armpit, as a sacred document coming from his constituency, to be diligently worked through the senate chambers, updating his constituency, as he goes along.

But what we have in Sen. Nwoko’s case is the direct opposite. And a ‘mob of citizen journalists’ do not want people who differ, who perhaps have superior information to air contrary opinion? Let me reiterate again, for those who have slow understanding of the complexity of the matter on ground, the things which in my considered opinion are wrong in Sen. Ned Nwoko’s approach to crusading for the creation of an Anioma state. They are:

1. The surprise element. Anioma people’s rejuvenated consciousness to the mechanics on ground, for the creation of our long cherished Anioma state, came to be awakened when the bill tabled by our erudite senator, was said to have gone through First Reading. Before now, many of us, including the later day mob of social media commentators, never got a whiff.
2. Before we could wipe our eyes to question what was going on, we were again jolted by the fact that the bill had gone through Second Reading. Ah ah, what is happening? People began to get restive and speak out. Then our beloved senator began his so called “consultation”.
3. Then we heard from the senator himself, that what he considers as the likeliest path to having our dream for Anioma state realised, is “to present ourselves as the 6th state of the South East geopolitical zone”, even though he has since backpedaled on this. And this is another dangerous sign post of where we are being led and how this senator is leading us.
4. The mere fact that we are debating now whether the Ned Nwoko’s bill, grafted us to the South East or not, totally pooh pooh’s that bill. There is something fundamentally wrong in the packaging of that document. It is not by the Anioma people but by one man.
5. I was at the Anioma stakeholders meeting in Grand Hotel at the end of August this year. You needed to see the heavy turnout of Igbos from across the Niger, present and given pride of place. A neighbour of mine in Okpanam, who is from Enugu state was there with their delegation. He told me, _”them say make we come…”_ What is really happening? Is this the way states are created? With unclear agenda (let me not say hidden) and unclear movements?
6. And when the “sole sponsor of the bill to create Anioma state”* tells his stakeholders audience that “the creation of Anioma State is what matters and not the zone it belongs”, the entire exercise begin to incense the sensibilities. Who is this man kidding? What about his initial marketing tip of balancing the number of states in the geopolitical zones earlier posited as the _raison d’etre_ for the likely success of the bill. Someone is not coming clean. People of our Senator’s profession tell us, “he who comes to equity should come with clean hands”. And this is all the more reason that I am not only worried, I am terrified. What is this man really up to? Does one person cook for an entire town?
7. Procedurally, in this state creation issue, what Senator Ned Nwoko ought to do ab initio , as the very responsible servant leader of his people that he is, is to come to his Anioma zonal political caucus of his party to tell them that a case can be made for the creation of Anioma State. Creation of states is a political decision and is politics driven. The discussion will start from there. Who will not want an Anioma state from amongst us? A resolution will be reached on critical issues pertaining to the state creation. LGA and ward representatives will be instructed to get to their traditional rulers involved and mobilise the communities. All hands will be on deck. *But no, he chose to do his thing and inform us later. He is now “consulting”, going from community to community, proposing LGA rallies, etc. What manner of party man is this? Does the tail wag the dog? It is the dog that wags the tail. But it seems this “tail” feels that he can herd us all in the direction he wants.
8. Every component of this pursuit must be on the table and procedurally followed. The communities to make up the new state must know themselves and must be known by others in the geographical expression. You don’t come after the state is created and begin to know yourselves. Similarly, the new LGAs and wards should be coupled together in the bill documents, and can be perused by anybody at any time. This will appear tedious and cumbersome to achieve. Yes, it will, where one person is doing it surreptitiously. But if all hands are on deck, everyone will hold his own side, like is said in garage parlance.
9. Faced with probable rejection, our very active senator is now dusting up all files of existing but not completed projects in his constituency and challenging openly, the government of His Excellency Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborewerei why the projects are not in his radar of projects to get attention. As he is prancing all over Delta North, he has his horde of social media citizen journalists in tow. Pressure no doubt is on the government to do MORE for Delta North.
10. Ultimately, the completion of the projects will be to our collective benefits. But undiscerning minds in the constituency, totally oblivious of the game at play, see their Messiah working. And any lack of cooperation given him, is quickly conveyed to the people, as those blocking developments being attracted by their god sent senator. Good strategy. The senator is enjoying it. Our mob of social media commentators are now being bouyed up to see Sen. Ned Nwoko as one the best thing to happen to the region. But the man is playing his own game.
11. Those who are applauding our distinguished Senator in this matter, inundating the media with favourable writings on his side, can still go on, without insults and abuses. But they should concede to those of us who disagree with the senator’s approach and intentions, to also continue our crusade. Do we want a separate state for ourselves as Anioma state? The answer is a resounding YES. But not the dressed pill that only one man by name Senator Prince Ned Nwoko is administering where all the cards are not on the table.
12. Perhaps Senator Nwoko has seen it, that his impressive mobilisation only resonates with the crowd who flock around him for what the billionaire lawyer will shell out and with those who are attracted to him because he appears capable of bringing down a perceived enemy (the enemy of my enemy is my friend). The senator is not impressing the leadership and rank and file of his political party. Maybe that is why he has resolved to upturn the table on its leadership, by sticking to directly reaching out to the masses of the Anioma people, making disturbing pronouncements against his party and its leadership openly, pointing to project after project that he wants completed, by any means. He animates his base by so doing but he forgets that he belongs to a group. That is his choice to make. We have seen this populist strategy before. And actions have consequences. My only ill feeling in this matter is that our dear quest for a lovely state of our own is being presented as a pawn in a grueling political fight and people who are undiscerning, because they already hate some names in our polity, have geared up for the fight coming, by lining up on the sides of whom they see as Messiah. I personally don’t care about the fight. I know what I don’t want for myself and for my next generation and that is to be lured into a contraption, for life, (like in a new state), that I did not knowingly walk into. I am old enough to know the difference.

* NWAHAM writes from Asaba.