Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD
Odogwu of Ibusa, Delta State
President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Africa (ICAC-GEN)
Email: Nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com Website: https://icacp-gen.org
During the Conference of Traditional and Political leaders of Benin and Delta Provinces held on September 18, 1953 in Benin City, Obi J. I. G Onyia of Asaba moved the first motion demanding the creation of Midwest Region. As he put it:
“Be it resolved, and it is hereby resolved that: We the peoples of Benin-Delta Province in a conference holding at Benin City this 18th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty three, demand as of right an immediate creation of a separate State for the peoples of Benin-Delta Province.”
It was indeed during the Conference that Oba Akenzue II coined the word “Bendelites” to describe the natives of Benin and Delta Provinces.
It should be recalled that when the Action Group Regional Government under Chief Obafemi Awolowo resolved to restore the title of “Olu of Itsekiri” to its original form, “Olu of Warri” in 1952, the resulting protests compelled him to equally restore the original name of the Province from “Warri” to “Delta”; hence the battle for the creation of the new region soon became easily configured under Benin and Delta Provinces.
Indeed, when the Midwest State Movement was eventually inaugurated on May 5, 1956, two prominent Anioma leaders were the leading figures. Obi of Agbor, Dein Obika, the grandfather of the present Kiagboekuzi I was the patron; while Chief Dennis Osadebay was the leader.
They were followed as members of the Executive Committee by Chief H. Omo-Osagie who was the Deputy Leader, and the Secretary Chief J. E. Otobo, among other members of the Executive Committee.
The reason for recounting the above two episodes is to inform our Southeast mercenary pseudo historians of Anioma history employed by Ned Nwoko that not only were Anioma people actively involved but were at the head of the agitation for Midwest Region.
The demand for Anioma State is historically a new phenomenon of political agitation borne out common identity defined from within and not without.
I have read a plethora of pro-Nwoko adumbrating exegeses majorly driven by intellectual mercenaries from the Southeast and I feel it is to the best interest of posterity that a response be driven in like manner.
Among these mercenary intellectuals are United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide driven by their Coordinator-General His Lordship, Justice Alpha Ikpeama, and their Director of Media and Publicity, Prof Obasi Igwe, who incidentally is my political god-father right from University of Nigeria, Nsukka; and then one Boney Akaeze who describes himself as a historian and journalist based at Asaba.
Of all the unsolicited agitations for Anioma State by these mercenary groups from Southeast, Prof Obasi Igwe presented the most illogical and ridiculous ideas driven by no other reason than pecuniary objectives. His short diatribes of July 21, 2024, titled: “Anioma State: Senator Ned Munir Nwoko on the Path of Historical Stardom”, was a reckless demonstration of an intellectual charade founded on uninformed historicism of Anioma land and its people, and driven by confused ethnic identity on his part.
On the other hand, his second piece, which better describes him as “a messenger without a sender”, is not only laughable and iconically moronic in objective but an embarrassment to the respected Igbo dignitaries whose most treasured names are being recklessly dropped for pecuniary objectives by its Coordinator-General His Lordship, Justice Alpha Ikpeama, and their Director of Media and Publicity, Prof Obasi Igwe.
In his letter of appeal written on behalf of Anioma people titled, “Plea For Support for the Anioma State”, dated July 23, 2024 and addressed to all Southeast, South-South, Southwest, Middle-Belt and Northern Members of Senate and House Of Representatives without the solicitation of Anioma people, Prof Obasi Igwe stated:
“The United Igbo Elders Worldwide are filled with gratitude for the attentions paid so far to the proposal and Bill for an Anioma State out of the present Delta State.
The Bill when passed into law would be of immense benefit to both the Anioma and Delta peoples, by expanding the scope of development in both areas, hence the gratitude for your support so far and appeal to see it through to ultimate realization.
While there are requests for new states in several areas, the Anioma case is certainly most logical and popular, and would be seen as another step to justice by our revered Senate and House. Distinguished Senator Ned Munir Nwoko is a man with outstanding qualities, very loving of his people and most beloved by them, and we, so proud of him are elated with the synergy with which you all work together in every direction for the good of the country.”
It is unfortunate that with his copious understanding of the dynamics of political agitations as a seasoned professor of political science from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof Obasi Igwe in his above unsolicited political verbiage clothed in mercenary objectives, failed to inform both Anioma people and the people the letter was addressed to why “the Anioma case is certainly most logical and popular” among such similar demands in the Southeast as Etiti, Adada, and Orlu States, outside his clandestine annexation objective. Secondly, Professor Obasi cannot speak about “expanding the scope of development” on behalf of Anioma people, because the least developed village in Anioma has better infrastructural development than his Nkporo town in Abia State.
I do not care if Senator Ned Nwoko has fallen victim to an amateurish political scammer like Prof Obasi Igwe because he deserves it. So referring to the reprehensible Senator Ned Nwoko as “a man with outstanding qualities, very loving of his people and most beloved by them”, does not make any better sense than some political nincompoops showering similar praises to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while oppressed Nigerians are gearing up for massive demonstrations and protests against him. Instead it readily portrays Prof Obasi Igwe as a morally rebel academic feasting dejectedly on moral corruption and ideological bankruptcy.
I know two personalities who will not condescend so low to engage on embarrassingly unsolicited agitation for Anioma State driven by a fraudulent Senator Ned Nwoko, if they are properly well-informed of the selfish objectives of these two men.
I am aware that my political god-mother Iyom Josephine Anenih will never bring her esteemed political personality so low as to engage in clandestine agitation for Anioma State by some Southeast intellectual mercenaries in the payroll of Senator Ned Nwoko masquerading as United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide, without respectfully being consulted by notable political, intellectual and traditional leaders in Anioma.
I am equally sure that my respected and morally upright mentor, Venerable (Prof) Chinedu Nebo is being unknowingly and deceptively entangled in this fraudulent political scheme because of his freewill disposition towards anything concerning collective Igbo interests; one expects the Venerable Professor to apply his engineering intellectual wizardry to raise some hypothetical political questions on the dominant political heart-beats of Anioma people over Senator Ned Nwoko’s unilateral decision to annex Anioma people to Southeast without consulting them. This is the moral question we expect the egg-heads in United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide to pose to Ned Nwoko before electing to become his political errand boys for Anioma State agitation.
However, before going into the substance of their factitious expositions founded on repulsive arrant fabrications, let me first address the fictitious Mr. Boney Akaeze on the subject matter of what he terms insult or threat to Senator Ned Nwoko by opponents of his annexation of Anioma to Southeast. I said fictitious because even though “Akaeze” sounds Anioma by popular nomenclature, his style and trajectory of presentation clearly betrayed his Anambra State origin.
For instance, it is only somebody from Anambra State and not Delta State that can make this statement in respect of Delta State:
“…we ought to understand that there are bodies such as the gazetted traditional Councils of our LGAs and Town Unions that are recognized by law to represent the constituent communities of the State.”
This is Anambra State law, where Town Development Unions and their President-Generals treat their traditional rulers as errand boys. It is not so in Delta State. In Delta State Town Development Unions owe their primary allegiance to their traditional rulers and the people and not to the State Government. This is one of the reasons why we say that even though we speak common language, our ways of life, instinctive moral judgments and, responses to societal circumstances are not the same.
Mr. Boney Akaeze further exposed his mercenary identity when he stated:
“It is therefore on this score, the vituperative polemics and antagonism towards the ordinarily innocuous recommendation of the distinguished Senator should be seen to be misguided and a misfire, even as the reasons adduced by those opposed to the recommendation are historical and sociological fallacies.”
In the first instance, no true son of Anioma will take Senator Nwoko’s unilateral decision to annex his people to Southeast without consulting them as merely an “innocuous recommendation.” The Igbo of Southeast can accept such act as innocuous, but the people of Anioma who liken representation without consultation to selling one’s people into slavery will never treat such act of Judas Iscariot with kid-gloves.
Our people often say that somebody who was not present when a corpse was buried will often exhume it from the legs. Boney Akaeze is just like such a man. As an intellectual mercenary from Southeast, he will never appreciate and understand the Anioma way of life, and why Senator Ned Nwoko deserves to be treated like Judas Iscariot. Our people often say that, the goat is tethered with the leg it brings forward.
The sin of representation without consultation is like the crime of plagiarism in academic profession; and every academic knows the consequences. It is like the biblical sin of disobedience, described by Samuel as being worse than idolatry. And of course we all know the consequences that befell King Saul.
To those who might not be aware, Senator Ned Nwoko’s illicit political marriage with Southeast emerged when he was informed that Senator Ifeanyi Okowa will be contesting for Senate in 2027. He looked towards the ruling APC and quickly retreated when he saw Senator Peter Nwoboshi’s imposing political stature. He then recoiled and decided to eye Labour Party; and to do this, it has to be done with the gangrenous bait of annexing Anioma people to Southeast in a way that would present him as the champion of Igbo unity. So when Anioma Traditional rulers advised Senator Ned Nwoko to desist from engaging on selfish political adventures without consulting the people, they had this motive in mind.
According a popular Anioma adage, a slave said that, it was not the adultery committed with his wife that was annoying to him but, the statement made before the act—“let’s sleep with her; is she not the wife of that slave?”
Before Senator Nwoko’s pronouncement attaching Anioma to Southeast, the issue of consultation with his people and how they would react to such proposal was discussed with his Southeast co-conspirators. His assurance to them was that there was nobody in Anioma bold enough to challenge him. Indeed when Prof Pat Utomi was mentioned, he simply dismissed him as a political light-weight. So the question is if the Senator representing Anioma people describes them as limbless, senseless, and cowards, how do you expect their Southeast kinsmen to view them?
This indeed explains why there are so much unguarded political locusts from the Southeast attempting to impose their fraudulent political will over the creation of Anioma State on Anioma people, audaciously misrepresenting and misinterpreting their history to their selfish interests. This should not have been the situation without the rat in the home telling the one in the bush that there is fish in the basket.
This further explains why such organization as United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide with the best collection of reputable Igbo eggheads would abandon the intractable security and political problems currently bestriding the Southeast and the Nigerian nation to engage in mercenary political adventurism in the service of a rogue Muslim politician in Delta State called Senator Ned Nwoko. Telling Anioma people that you totally support Senator Ned Nwoko without first condemning his ignominious treatment of his people not only questions the integrity of the group but likens them to Roman and Jewish elders praising Judas Iscariot for his barbarous betrayal of his master Jesus Christ.
The question I wish to address to United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide is, if Anioma people are worth the importance they now pretend to assign to them in the name of supporting their Anioma State agitation, why is no Anioma personality considered worthy of being their member? Are they saying that Anioma people have no reputable men of honor qualified enough to be their member? We advise the United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide to avoid reminding Anioma people of the tragic Asaba massacre or to remind them how urgent they need Anioma State.
It is imperative that United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide use their noted intellectual, juridical, and political clouts to pursue the various agitations for new States in Southeast rather than dissipating their energies campaigning for Anioma State uninvited, as if the people don’t have the capability to do so for themselves. Campaigning for Anioma State without representation just like Senator Ned Nwoko, clearly defines them as ridiculous Southeast mercenaries.
The United Igbo Elders Council Worldwide tells us that:
“It has been a long-standing demand of those generally known as West Niger Igbo, who may know themselves by so many other lexicons, for a state of their own outside the original Western Region.”
This is one of the dimensions of the fabricated history of Anioma State agitation being peddled by our Southeast Igbo kinsmen to advance their annexation objectives; and which needs to be corrected. Boney Akaeze as he refers to himself has described those of us who oppose Nwoko’s unilateral annexation of Anioma to Southeast in the following words: “misguided and a misfire, even as the reasons adduced by those opposed to the recommendation are historical and sociological fallacies.”
I want to prove to Boney Akaeze why he is not only a misguided mercenary from Anambra State but a fictitious historian. First, in his bogus essay titled: “The Renewed Agitation for the Creation of Anioma State and Sen Ned Nwoko’s Antagonists—The Facts and Fallacies”, published under Ned Nwoko’s commission for the The Atlantic Post of July 20, 2024, he asserted that Oil Rivers Protectorate covered “the present day South-South Region of modern Nigeria.” This assertion is false, unfounded and a clear historical fabrication because Anioma people were rather under the Royal Niger Company Protectorate with Asaba as its Capital until December 31, 1899, when the Royal Niger Company Charter was abrogated.
Another factitious assertion by Boney Akaeze is that:
“Not until 1931, when it was moved to the Benin Province, Asaba Division was a part of Onitsha Province. Of course in April, 1927 when the Revenue Ordinance was amended to make it applicable to the Southern Protectorate for the purpose of levying of direct taxation, Warri Province was listed in the amendment as belonging to Provinces in the South East.”
The first historical misfire is that Warri Province was listed as belonging to the Provinces of South East. There was nothing like Provinces of the South East. Secondly, at the period mentioned— 1931, there was nothing like Asaba Division being part of Onitsha Province. By Colonial Status, Asaba as a former Capital of a section of Colonial Nigeria was higher than Onitsha. The only control Onitsha had over Asaba was the Anglican Mission which started from Onitsha in 1857 and subsequently moved to Asaba in 1875.
Indeed when you speak of Asaba Division at that period you are talking about the six Local Government Areas of Delta State—Ika South, Ika Northwest, Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Oshimili North, and Oshimili South. The special feature of that period is that Benin Province included the present Ndokwa East Local Government Area, and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
May be a historical novice like Boney Akaeze might ask why the people of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State chose to join the present Rivers State, rather than Imo State when the Federal Government adjusted the boundary between Bendel State and Rivers State? Or are they not also Igbo-speaking like the present Anioma people? Was it not because of these people that Imo State was cut off from the River Niger?
Indeed, the first agitation for the creation of Midwest Region was in 1926 when the Oba of Benin Oba Eweka II, the great-grandfather of the present Oba Ewuare II, requested the British Colonial administration to create a separate administrative entity comprising the present people of Edo and Delta States which would be reporting directly to the central Colonial administration in Lagos. I refer Boney Akaeze and his mercenary cohorts to N.A.I BP 44/1926/ VOL 1/ The Oba of Benin.
I want to further prove to Mr. Boney Akaeze that he is not only a miserable mercenary but a spurious historian with amateurish criminal proclivity. The following are some archival sources from National Archives Ibadan before 1931 showing that Asaba Division was all the way part of Benin Province and was never part of Onitsha Province at any point of the people’s history:
“N.A.I.B.P. 97/1923; Ben Prof 2/8. Quarterly Report for March, 1923; N.A.I. BP. 125/23 Ben Prof 2/8. Quarterly Report for June Quarter, 1923; N.A.I. BP. 15/1919, Ben Prof./257 Intelligence Report, Ibusa Political paper; and N.A.I. BP. 328/14. Ben prof 1/257 Intelligence Report: Red-Capped Chiefs – Asaba, Ibusa, Okpanam J. Watt, Provincial Commissioner.”
If Mr. Boney Akaeze is actually a historian as he claimed, he will understand that “N. A. I. B. P” means “National Archives Ibadan Benin Province.” Mr. Boney Akaeze is not only a provocative liar but a stinking counterfeiter of noble Anioma history. His so-called article titled: “The Renewed Agitation for the Creation of Anioma State and Sen Ned Nwoko’s Antagonists—The Facts and Fallacies” is nothing more and nothing less worthy of being thrown into the trash-cans of spurious historicity.
In 1939, Sir Bernard Bourdillon as the Governor of the Colony of Nigeria created two groups of Provinces in Southern Nigeria—Western Provinces consisting the present Southwest geopolitical zone, and Eastern Provinces made up of the present Southeast and South-South geopolitical zones. Anioma people together with the people of Ogba, Egbema and Ndoni of the present Rivers State remained in Benin and Warri Provinces.
So there hadn’t been any separate colonial political unit that exclusively brought the present Southeast and Anioma people together as one political unit. It is equally important to note that following the concerted protests of the people of Delta and Benin Provinces, Sir Arthur Richards who succeeded Sir Bernard Bourdillon returned the two Provinces to the West.
Let me re-emphasize once again, that historically before the emergence of the British colonial administrators, there was neither direct nor frequent economic, social and political contacts between Anioma people and Southeast. Most of our closer contacts and associations revolved round our Edo and Igala neighbors, with Aboh kingdom as the maritime power of the time.
There was social-economic synergy not only among Anioma people in pre-colonial times but with their Edo, Ijawz, Igala, Yoruba and Itsekiri neighbors. This was one explanation why Anioma people were able to mobilize themselves with one accord against British colonial incursion under the aegis of Ekumeku Resistance Movement. It also explains why we have six indigenous Yoruba towns among us, hence the essence of our diversity and the mutual understanding of that diversity, which our Southeast Igbo kinsmen seem to be blind of.
Let me reiterate once again, Anioma people speak Igbo language and associated dialects, but not all Anioma people are Igbo. So the question of haranguing them into believing that because they speak Igbo they should be forced into a questionable marriage with the Southeast cannot stand. Indeed before the British colonial era, it was easier and safer for somebody from Asaba to travel to Benin City—a distance of seven-day journey, than for such a person to travel to Ogidi in the present Southeast—a distance of approximately one and a half-day journey.
The danger of such a journey to Ogidi and its environs is that before such a person even gets to his destination, he would have found his body-parts distributed in several household soup pots. This was not so with traveling to Benin City; because with “Pax Binica” prevalent at that time, Anioma people could travel as far as Ondo, Owo and Akure cities in Yorubaland during the pre-colonial era.
In 1897, Captain S. F. S. Roupell who was one of the British officers of the Benin expedition and who later went to Akure to enforce British suzerainty wrote an account of the economic activities between the Anioma and the Edo. In his words:
“At Asaba, the natives of Benin come to trade by land, they have no canto Soes. The Eggarah people bring their produce of the interior. Those from Aboh bring European goods, when they have them or salt. The Dryland people from the hills behind Adamugu or Damoogoo or Abele bring horses.”
Thank God for the activities of the Niger Mission of the Anglican Church who documented copious accounts of some aspects of Anioma history long before British conquest. Concerning the multi-ethnic origins of Anioma people, Reverend Isaac B. Spencer of the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS), Asaba, in his copious historical account of Asaba people titled, “Araba and the Arabians”, written in 1879, stated ipso facto:
“The founding father of this third and larger group of settlers is Nnebisi. His children subsequently married and mingled with fresh streams of immigrants from Igala (Igara), Ishan, Bini and eastern Ibos mainly and in this manner enriched Asaba with the varied and virile elements of culture of which we boast today.”
Going by popular historical tradition of Asaba, their eponymous ancestor Nnebisi was of Igala father and Nteje mother. So what crime will the people of Asaba be committing if they declare themselves of Igala ancestry, even though they speak Igbo? I wish to assert that there is no large Anioma town without immigrants of Edo or Igala origins.
The prevalence of many people of Benin and Ishan origins in Anioma is as a result of Oba of Benin’s policy of executing any commander that lost a war. Thus in order to avoid being executed for failing in battle, most of these war chiefs opted to settle among the people they came to conquer. So when the Obi of Issele-Uku His Royal Majesty Agbogidi Obi Nduka Ezeagwuna II said that he is descended from the noble families of Benin Kingdom he was not far from the truth.
In 1878 when a team of Church Missionary Society under Reverend Isaac Spencer visited Ubulu-Uku, Obi Nwadseri, as they wrote it had just ascended the throne. His younger brother Prince Mordi was asked by Reverend Spencer the nature of their relationship with the Oba of Benin. In his response, Prince Mordi stated:
“That the King of Ubulu as well as all those on the route to Benin are tributaries to the King of that place, that his brother Nwadseri, the present King of Ubulu having lately succeeded to the sovereignty on the death of their father, is about to send messengers with presents to the King of Benin to announce the same.”
When Reverend Henry Dobinson of the CMS Mission visited the Obi of Issele-Uku, Agbogidi Obi Egbuna in 1891, he not only stated the accounts of his Benin origin but when he was told to abandon his traditional religion and embrace Christianity, he thought the missionaries meant liberating him from the Oba of Benin. As Reverend Dobinson put it:
“He thought what we meant by serving only God in Heaven was releasing him from his allegiance to the big King of Idu, (near Benin River), who is bowed to as Head, by all the Kings of this country.”
It is a fact of history that sentimental attachment is driven more by ancestral bonds of origin than common language. This explains why many Igbo are claiming to be Jews even though they neither speak Hebrew nor look like Jews. It is therefore the height of treacherous stupidity for any Southeasterner to insult any son or daughter of Anioma land for claiming his or her ancestral identity in the name of denying Igbo identity.
This is where I come to Prof. Obasi Igwe my revolutionary godfather at University of Nigeria, Nsukka and, now puppet Director, Media and Publicity of United Igbo Elders Council (UNIEC) Worldwide. I call him puppet Director because he is a man that says one thing and does another according to his instinctive cowardice. I wish to state that there is nothing strange about an Odogwu having the cowardly Prof Obasi Igwe as his revolutionary godfather. After all cowardly Unoka begot gallant Okonkwo of Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart.” So in effect, Prof Obasi Igwe is no more and no less a “Political Unoka” to me.
When Prof Obasi Igwe audaciously questioned the roguish Ohaneze Ndigbo led by Chief Emmanuel Iwauanyanwu over their criminal intention to apologize to the Fulani on behalf of the Igbo over the killing of Sir Ahmadu Bello by the Anioma-born most gallant Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, he was hailed across Igboland and beyond as a man of principle and fearlessness.
But when he was threatened by Chief Iwuanyanwu and his cohorts, he ran to me, telling me that Chief Emmanuel not only sent assassins to kill him in his house at Nsukka, but had threatened to ostracize him. I calmly told him to give me twenty-four hours to put Chief Iwuanyanwu and his clandestine group in check. I did that and there were no more cries of threat to life and ostracism from Prof Obasi Igwe.
The same Prof Obasi Igwe, short of confronting me frontally, complained to my former Director at Institute of African Studies, Emeritus Prof Emeka Nwabueze from Awka, that first, he should ask me why I am insulting Igbo leaders? Second, he should ask me why I praise my Anioma leaders too much. And third, that he did not like my condemnation of the gruesome killing of our five Igbo Christian soldiers at Aba by unknown gunmen. Only Emeritus Prof Emeka Nwabueze can recount my response to him.
One thing is to be a coward and another, which is worse than cowardice, is for the same man to combine his cowardice with chameleon instinct. This is Prof Obasi Igwe for sure. He claims to be an atheist—not believing in God or any form of transcendental authority but secretly presents himself as a Muslim through the patronage of his Senator, the quisling Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. My first disagreement with him was when he demanded furiously that I remove the word “Christian” from my International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria.
One can therefore understand why he described Senator Ned Munir Abdullahi Nwoko as a man on the “path of historical stardom.” Yes! Historical stardom as his fellow Muslim on the path of Islamization of the political leadership of Anioma people and consequent annexation to Prof Obasi Igwe’s Southeast. Anioma people are not political snails one can just pick and drop into the political basket without resistance.
Prof Obasi Igwe has the audacity to refer to people like me who challenge the obnoxious attempt to annex their land and people to Southeast in the spirit of Ekumeku as being “illogical and meaningless” in our “diatribes against the legitimate aspirations of their own peoples.” Postulating that we “are totally on the wrong side of history, and [that we] shall certainly regret it.”
Prof Obasi Igwe went further in his historically jumbled diatribes to state:
“They curiously draw people back into the exhausted “argument” of Anioma not right to be part of “Southeast,” when it had already been declared that an Anioma state can be anywhere they like. They shift to Ned Munir Nwoko’s lack of the angelic credentials to pursue an Anioma cause, whereas they were all along free to deploy their own angelic attributes to give Anioma their state, without having to wait all these years and decades for a Ned Munir Nwoko to take up the challenge.”
Well, Prof Obasi is not only incompetent in moral terms to defined what a good leadership means to Anioma people, but he is grossly incompetent also to define the political trajectory of Anioma people as a limbless outsider. I thought as a political scientist and professor of political science Prof Obasi Igwe should have known better.
If the Southeast are proud of the likes of Senators Orji Uzor Kalu and Hope Uzodinma as their political leaders and sign-posts of their moral carriage in politics, Anioma people are not so with Senator Ned Nwoko, who in his self-centered drive for Anioma State is nothing but a leper serving food to wedding guests.
Furthermore, unlike Prof Obasi Igwe who is not proud of his Ibibio ancestral roots, Anioma people are proud of their diverse Igbo, Edo, Igala, Yoruba and Ijaw origins. Anioma people as principled and politically refined set of people cannot overlook this diversity because of the ravenous instinct of our Igbo kinsmen of Southeast to expand to other lands.
I wish to remind Prof Obasi Igwe that as an Ibibio by ancestral root, he has no moral and historical credentials to define what constitute the proper ethnic identity of Anioma people. His native town of Nkporo in the present Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State sprang out of the original Ibibio settlers of the present Arochukwu town in Abia State following the Jukun (Akpa) invasion of the 17th century.
I wish to further remind Prof Obasi Igwe if he is not properly knowledgeable in his ancestral history that his ancestral Ibibio kinsmen are the present six villages of Ibom-Isi in Arochukwu, and Enwang town in the present Oron Senatorial Zone of Akwa Ibom State—the hometown of the former Inspector General of Police Mr. Etim Iyang. I need not advice Prof Obasi Igwe and his United Igbo Elders Council (UNIEC) Worldwide to leave Anioma people alone to pursue their Anioma State agitation within their character and space; as our say, ife onye cho k’ofu!
