•Orji Uzor Kalu
The Senator representing Abia North, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has voiced support for the creation of Anioma State from the present Delta State as the sixth state for the Southeast geopolitical zone.
The South-East region is the only zone in Nigeria with only five states and leaders from the zone have been clamouring for the creation of an additional state in the zone to be at par with some other zones.
Senator Kalu, who is a former governor of Abia State, said on Channels Television last night that the creation of a sixth state in the South-East from Anioma will help douse anger over the perceived marginalisation of the Igbo people.
“Of course, Anioma State should be created as the sixth South-East state. It’s the only state that will be viable to be created,” Senator Kalu said.
“Anioma are Igbos and they never said they are not Igbos. The sixth South-East state should be created, and it should be from Anioma.”
Anioma is the state being proposed by the Senator representing Delta North, Senator Ned Nwoko, which he said is to “correct historical oversight.”
According to Senator Nwoko, the creation of Anioma State will address the longstanding imbalance in the geopolitical distribution of states in Nigeria.
He noted that the South-East geopolitical zone currently has five states, unlike its counterparts, except for the North-West, which has seven states.
The Delta Senator maintained that this disparity results in an imbalance of representation and resources, with the South-East having only 15 lawmakers compared to the 18 lawmakers of other zones in the Senate.
The new state proposed by Senator Nwoko is made up of nine local government areas, in the present Delta State.
Recently, rejected all 31 proposals for the creation of states, citing failure to meet constitutional requirements.
The committee said that none of the 31 requests for state creation in Nigeria met the constitutional requirements for consideration.
