Why Anioma Holds the Key to Ending South-East Marginalization

Few issues in Nigeria’s contemporary federal debate carry the weight of justice, history, and identity as much as the call for Anioma State. The agitation is not just a plea for another state to be added to the country’s political map. It is a struggle with deep historical roots, a demand to correct structural injustice, and a quest to give expression to a people whose cultural and political space has long been fractured.

One of the striking realities of Nigeria’s current federal structure is the imbalance in the number of states across the geopolitical zones. While the North-West has seven states and most others six, the South-East remains at five, leaving it underrepresented in national institutions and disadvantaged in the distribution of federal resources. The unfairness is obvious and, for many, unsustainable.

It is within this context that Anioma, the Igbo-speaking part of present-day Delta State, emerges as the most natural and credible solution to ending South-East marginalization. Anioma is not a contrived invention; it is a historical and cultural entity whose people have long identified with the Igbo nation. Granting it statehood within the South-East would resolve both a structural anomaly and a deep identity question.

In the collective volume Anioma State Creation: Scholarship on History and Identity, leading scholars examine the intellectual, cultural, and political dimensions of the agitation. Prof. Sylvester Monye argues that the Anioma demand is not new or opportunistic but one of the oldest statehood movements in Nigeria. He stresses that Anioma is historically and culturally tied to the Igbo nation, and its inclusion as the sixth state of the South-East would not only strengthen the zone but also resolve a longstanding imbalance in the federation.

Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika, also writing in the same volume, takes a complementary perspective. She points out that identity is not merely geographical but also linguistic and cultural. For her, Anioma’s language, customs, and social ties clearly align with the South-East, underscoring that state creation here is about restoring wholeness to a people unjustly divided by colonial and postcolonial cartography.

Her analysis reminds us that federal arrangements, when blind to identity, produce alienation rather than unity. Anioma’s struggle, therefore, is not just about redrawing a boundary but about reconciling identity with federal logic. In other words, this is as much about justice as it is about nation-building.

Viewed side by side, the insights of Monye and Ogwezzy-Ndisika reveal that Anioma State would achieve three things at once: heal the wound of partition that severed Anioma from its natural Igbo home, provide structural parity for the South-East within the Nigerian federation, and affirm a people’s cultural identity without destabilizing the national order.

This academic foundation has found new political vigor in the advocacy of Senator Ned Nwoko, the Delta North lawmaker who has become the arrowhead of the Anioma cause. Unlike past efforts that often stalled at the level of rhetoric, Nwoko has elevated the agitation into mainstream legislative and national discourse. His interventions bring clarity, urgency, and political weight to the demand.

By linking the intellectual scholarship with legislative action, Nwoko bridges a gap that had previously limited Anioma’s chances. He has consistently argued that Nigeria cannot achieve enduring stability without addressing its structural imbalances, and Anioma, as the missing piece in the South-East, offers the most practical corrective.

In synthesis, Anioma State is more than a regional agitation. It is a national project anchored on fairness, inclusion, and federal balance. To ignore it is to perpetuate an injustice that weakens the federation; to embrace it is to take a bold step toward consolidating Nigeria’s unity.

The argument, therefore, is not whether Anioma deserves statehood – it clearly does, by history, by identity, and by federal logic. The real question is whether Nigeria is ready to confront its structural injustices with the honesty and courage that nation-building requires.

With scholarship providing intellectual clarity and leaders like Senator Ned Nwoko giving political momentum, Anioma’s case is no longer just persuasive – it is urgent. For Nigeria to move forward, it must close the chapter of inequality that Anioma State so clearly represents.

Ultimately, Anioma is not simply asking for recognition. It is offering Nigeria an opportunity: the chance to demonstrate that justice, identity, and federal balance are not negotiable luxuries but the pillars upon which a stable and united country must stand. GMTNewsng

Chijioke Ogbodo is the Managing Partner of GMTNewsng.com, a Nigerian-based media platform committed to credible reporting, in-depth analysis, and promoting informed public discourse. He can be reached via email at chijioke@gmtnewsng.com.