A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr Anthony Idigbe, has called for deep reflection and restraint in the ongoing clamour for the creation of Anioma State, warning that if poorly handled, the process may reopen old wounds and create new divisions among Igbo people.
Dr Idigbe spoke as the guest speaker at the 2025 Annual Dinner and Award Night of the Otu Oka Iwu (Association of Igbo Lawyers) in Lagos. The event, chaired by Abia State Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, had the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Professor Epiphany Azinge (SAN) and the President General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Senator John Azuta-Mbata, in attendance.
Dr Idigbe urged leaders to rise above personal ambitions in addressing “highly sensitive national and ethnic questions.”
According to him, the proposal for Anioma State could be viewed as a quest for liberation by the Anioma people, who feel culturally and politically constrained, and as a form of compensation to the South-East through the creation of an additional state.
He, however, cautioned that both perspectives raised complex identity and territorial questions that must be handled with care, wondering if the state creation will bring an expansion of what is traditionally regarded as Igboland or extend the South-East geo-political zone into Anioma territory.
“These are sensitive issues and we have to be extremely careful. We must avoid the feeling that one particular Igbo has the right to control the other part of Igboland. Anioma people do not want to come out of one bondage and go into another to be perpetrated by their brother Igbos from across the River Niger. They will fight”, he warned.
He therefore urged stakeholders to reflect deeply on the consequences of their choices. He cited the former Mid-West Region and how misplaced priorities may have limited its long-term development.
He said, “We still think that we made the same mistake when we got the Mid-West Region. Maybe if we had focused on getting the capital and the premiership right, who knows how our area would have turned out?
“Who knows whether the metropolis between Awka and Agbor would have been more established today if we had placed the larger interest above personal interest?”
Idigbe also cautioned that current agitations risk being hijacked by personal ambition. He said: “I am aware that people are already positioning themselves to be governors, senators and so on and consequently, they are ready to throw away what we already have.
“Every Anioma person is as much Igbo as any other Igbo person unless someone is in denial. We need to convey the right message to our people about the relationship between the Anioma people and the people of the South-West”, he said.
