efore I go to the subject of this essay I feel obliged to underline one fact: the preoccupation with, or the debate on the issue of state creation - however necessary it is - must not be allowed to dissipate the energies we require to affront the bigger task of reviewing the 1999 constitution the outcome of which must be a constitution capable of redeeming Nigeria from the forces of attrition and repositioning it on the road to fame.
If we eventually emerge with a constitution that imbues Nigerians with a sense of unity of purpose and entrepreneurship, a constitution that diminishes the differences of religion and ethnicity, a constitution that builds patriotism into every Nigerian (a factor that must severely attenuate our disease of primitive acquisition of wealth at others' expense), chances are that "Vision 20:2020" may not be a tall dream given Nigeria's abundant human and mineral resources. On the other hand, if we fruitlessly expend this latest opportunity at nation building, we may have a long walk home.
At this juncture, I shall implore the reader that respects the concepts of fairness and rule of law to read on; while those schooled on machiavellianism, those inclined to standing justice on its head, and those normally thrilled with the primrose path in obstructing justice's course are expected to quit.
There is this compelling reality to bring the number of states in the Southeast zone to, at least, six. If there are people still not versed in the history of state creation in the Southeast: the zone is derived from the former East Central state that later gave rise to Anambra and Imo states. In a subsequent state creation exercise Anambra was split into Enugu and Anambra states, while Imo was split into Abia and Imo states. In the last state creation exercise in the zone, Ebonyi state was derived from the two states of Abia and Enugu thus leaving the states and their corresponding number of Local Councils as follows: Enugu (17), Ebonyi(13), Abia(18), Anambra(21) and Imo(27).
When the old Imo state was split into Abia and Imo states, the then Okigwe senatorial district in the old Imo state was divided between the two states. When Ebonyi state was created from Abia and Enugu states, that part of the old Okigwe senatorial district located in the then Abia state was divided between Ebonyi and Abia states. Therefore, the two components of the old Okigwe zone now in Ebonyi and Abia states have belonged to three or four states and have had three or four state capitals since the days of the East Central state.
The sociometric realities in the old Okigwe zone depict that for each of the three groups that once composed the zone but are now located in the three states of Imo, Abia and Ebonyi, the cultural, dialectical and socio-political bonds that tie them to the groups existing in the states where they are now located are much more stronger than whatever linked them together in the old Okigwe senatorial district. An example: when the Isikwuator portion of the old Okigwe zone was merged with Abia state where the old Bende people with whom they have rich cultural and dialectical ties exist, it was for them like a situation of the chicken finally coming home to roost. The situation is the same for the other two portions of the old Okigwe senatorial district located in today's Imo and Ebonyi states.
If the concept of rule of law can be expanded to include walking the line of justice in whatever we set out to do in our daily activities, there ought not be any second thought as to where the sixth state is to be located in the Southeast zone. The antecedent of state creation in the zone ought to be the first resource pool to have recourse to. On that score, a man from the moon does not need a second thought to state that the sixth state, or the 'equalisation state', or the state at the centre of the Southeast, or a state originating from the existing five states in the Southeast must be a creation carved out from the Imo West and Anambra South senatorial districts. In these areas, the long standing demand for Njaba state is the yearning of the people.
The following factors qualify the proposed Njaba state for the sixth state in the Southeast zone: its viability as a state is certain; the area is contiguous; nearly all the people in the area share the same cultural, dialectical, and socio-political ties (a fact underscored by the reality that nearly all the catholic parishes in the proposed state - Catholicism is the preponderant Christian religion in the area - are of the Orlu Catholic diocese); it has the population of people to form a state; a referendum any day (as provided by Section 8 of the Nigerian constitution regarding state creation) on the Njaba state proposal in the areas where it is proposed must yield a landslide 'YES' vote (politicians in the zone have their individual one vote to cast in the circumstance).
In the case of Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area, democracy and the rule of law demand that the inhabitants of the area be given their inalienable right to chose either Imo or the proposed Njaba states through the same referendum.
However, one is not oblivious of the Machiavellian position of a few persons that the sixth state being a collective struggle by Ndigbo has to be realised by extracting it from the existing five states in the zone. This deceptive argument falls flat on its face when it is weighed against the history of state creation in the Southeast zone. The argument was developed in the not too distant past by a few persons in high places coveting the proposed sixth state for the beneficiary of a particular predetermined locality. Issue is that in the areas these persons have in mind (including the Okigwe area) for the purpose of a state, people out there have been displaced from their jobs or relocated several times through the three to four state creation exercises that centred mostly on them. The people out there are weary and wary of the exercise of state creation. All the local government areas with peoples of distinguishable differences they intend to coerce together for the purpose cannot make up the population for a state. From every economic data regarding the area in question, such a state can hardly thrive without federal handouts; and in the presence of other groups agitating for the sixth state with empirical statistics backing the economic viability of the states they are proposing, a situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul must not be encouraged.
For a digression, whenever the subject of centre of Igboland or centre of the Southeast zone comes up, well meaning Igbos and students of history recall that the area that makes up today's Imo West and the southern tip of Anambra South senatorial districts (the proposed Njaba state) was the last to collapse to the federal forces thus signalling the end of the civil war. The area was the last refuge to most of Ndigbo displaced by warfare. The defunct Amorka-Uli airport in this area (Anambra South) was the primary source of relief materials and, to some degree, survival for Ndigbo at the heat of the war. That this area served these purposes is to some extent an indication of its central location in Igboland and an attestation to its people's cohesiveness. The Igbo is supposed to be his brother's keeper hence people in this area are not expecting any form of pay-back from any body, but persons or group of persons obviously fired by greed must not reserve you-deserve-no-good attributes for the people here.
Again, it smacks of insensitivity and lack of hindsight or outright opportunism to cite the recent demand for an unpopular Orashi state as maliciously contrived and backed by a single individual as a detraction for the proposed Njaba state.
By and large, the senate president, David Mark's recent statement that the people's yearnings, "NOT PRESCRIPTIONS" (emphasis mine) must determine the issue of state creation is reassuring to people of good will.
The demand for Njaba state had all along scored firsts: it is the oldest in the Southeast, dating back to the early 1970's; it was the first and only proposal for state to get a nod from the Imo state House of Assembly, it was the first proposal for state to be presented to the National Political Reforms Conference, it was first among the three demands presented by the Ohaneze Ndigbo to that conference for creation as a state, and when the conference was aborted, the leaders of the movement for Njaba state were the first to regroup and present their demand before president Umaru Yar'Adua during his first official visit to Imo state in February 2008; the group was the first to present its demand before the National Assembly mid 2008; as a state to be created through democratic means, it shall be the first in Nigeria where development infrastructures are planned to be decentralised to all nooks and corners of the state, in other words, no area is likely to scheme to have the state capital for the purpose of propagating the despicable state-capital-shall-have-it-all phenomenon.
We need not invent confusion in the midst of clarity. On any scale balanced on the precept of justice, the tilt overwhelmingly favours the proposed Njaba state for the sixth state in the Southeast zone.
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