Senator Ned Nwoko (APC-Delta North) has urged the Anioma people of Delta State to embrace their Igbo identity and work with Nigerians from the South-East to build a stronger and more united country.
Speaking in Asaba at a conference organised by the Igbo Unification Movement in collaboration with the Ndi na Asu Bia Socio-Cultural Organisation, Nwoko said the time had come to correct decades of identity distortion.
The event, themed “Igbo Bu Ofu” (Igbos are One), focused on promoting unity among Igbo-speaking communities, including Anioma in Delta North and Igbanke in Edo.
“There is no argument about our Igbo identity. I understand history very well. I have a degree in history,” Nwoko declared.
“I know the migration of the Igbo people, and I know clearly that we, the Anioma, are Igbo. The time has come for us to reverse the old narratives that separated us from our brothers across the Niger,” he added.
The lawmaker, who has sponsored a motion in the National Assembly for the creation of Anioma State, said the demand was not political but a push for justice and fairness.
“This is not about APC, PDP, or Labour Party; it is about identity, justice, and fairness,” he said. “I have no interest in being governor, but I want Anioma to stand tall with its own state, with Asaba as its capital.”
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Nwoko said his dream was for an Ndokwa son or daughter to become the first governor of Anioma State.
He added that the move would also fulfil Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s long-standing recognition of Anioma as one of the Igbo states.
Also, he recalled his childhood during the civil war, saying that the era’s identity crisis must now give way to truth and reconciliation.
“The Igbo man is Igbo everywhere, whether from Delta, Imo, or Abia,” he noted. “Just like a Chinese man remains Chinese anywhere in the world, Anioma must rise to embrace its identity. That is the only way we can achieve unity and political relevance.”
Nwoko commended academics and activists like Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy of the University of Lagos, whose research has helped affirm Anioma’s Igbo roots.
He also urged cultural groups to sustain advocacy and mobilisation, stressing that only collective effort could realise both the unity of the Igbo nation and the creation of Anioma State.