The Chairman of the Adada State Movement, Chief James Ugwu, on Thursday, said that the South-East region of Nigeria deserves two additional states in the proposed state creation by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitutional Review.
Chief Ugwu stated this in Enugu in an interview with NewsNGR. He explained that the two additional states stemmed from the fact that the Southeast has only five states, while other geopolitical zones have six each, with the Northwest having seven.
According to him, equity and justice demand that one additional state be created in the Southeast to make it on par with other zones.
He added that the Southeast would also benefit from the main tranche, which would be carved out of all the geopolitical zones in the country, as proposed by the National Assembly.
Quoting him, “Those saying that there is no need for state creation in Nigeria are getting it wrong. Remember that states and local governments are the indices for revenue sharing.
“If you say that states are being created, you are also taking governance closer to the people because you will also create local government areas.
“Let’s not forget that our population is growing on a daily basis. Some states that had about five million people in the last census are now getting to nine million.
“But what is more important is to ensure equity in the number of states per political zone. The same applies to LGAs.
“When the committee announced one extra state in the Southeast, Nigerians were happy about it. You may also recall that it was Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central who moved that motion for an additional state in the South East.
“He is not from Southeast. Anybody in this country would know that the marginalisation in the Southeast is becoming unbearable.
“When he moved that motion, and it was seconded by Sen. Ali Ndume, another Northerner, personally, I was touched, and I said unity has finally returned to this country.
“What that means is that the South East will get one state to round up with other regions, and then the second tranche will be the additional states to be created from each of the geopolitical zones. The region will then get seven, like other zones. That is the way to correct the imbalance.”
He also said Adada State deserved to be created first in the South East: “When you come to the South East, we are sharply divided into Northern and Southern Igbos. Southern Igbos, comprising Abia, Anambra and Imo, are known as Ndi Agbenu.
“The Northern Igbos are Wawa, comprising Ebonyi and Enugu. Any other state that is coming must come from northern Igbo; otherwise, it amounts to another marginalisation. If that is done, I wonder whether we can participate in what is being proposed as regional administration.
“If the Northern Igbo remain two and their Southern counterpart becomes four, we would have been destroyed, not just marginalised. In the entire Northern Igbo, there is no state agitation except Adada.”
He recalled that during the Ken Nnamani tenure as Senate president, there was a time the then president wanted to create one state from the South East.
“The leadership of the National Assembly came down to Owerri. After all was said and done, Adada was the choice of the entire National Assembly. Nothing has changed since then,” said Ugwu.
On the allegations that Anioma State would be created as part of the South East, Chief Ugwu said, “I don’t think that the National Assembly would make that type of mistake. I have many reasons for this.
“You have to get seventy-five per cent of the members of the National and State Assemblies to sign it, which has been very difficult for those championing Anioma.
“Also, His Royal Majesty, the Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, and his cabinet have already objected to belonging to the South-East zone. So the proponents of Anioma State can’t fulfil Section 8 (1) of the Nigerian constitution.”
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