By Ike Mgbatogu
Staff Writer
Onumba.com,USA ——- The Igbo community has been griping about this injustice for decades, but now relief is just around the corner —— pretty much one or two legislative readings away.
The Tinubu administration has greenlit the creation of two additional states each for the Southwest and Southeast geo-political zones after winnowing through a labyrinth of 55 proposals from across the country.
The brand new states will be ——– Ijebu to be carved out of Ogun State and Anioma to split from Delta state and join the Southeast geopolitical zone as the sixth state.
When all is said and done, Nigeria will have 38 states instead of 36.
But given the usual ethnic kerfuffle and historical hullabaloo of state creation in Nigeria, is this just another wave of empty talk?
No, it is not. Actually, the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution review has already approved the plan, and is now hastily shepherding the decision through the constitutional legislative process.
This is a landmark shift for the Igbo community, which has long voiced concerns over systemic exclusion and federal marginalization. Nowhere is this perceived feeling of marginalization more pronounced than the imbalance of seeing other regions enjoy the benefit of six or seven states while only five were created for the Southeast, despite the fact that the Igbo community represents one of the three largest ethnic groups in the country.
This move seeks to bridge that gap in regional fairness, directly tackling the Igbo community’s grumble over the Southeast not receiving an equitable share of national resources and adequate political representation.
However, as always, President Tinubu’s political posture never fails to lean towards coddling and favoring his Yoruba ethnic cabal. There are just no two ways about it. True, this development is tremendously beneficial to the Southeast, which is now on the cusp of having six states, but it is especially rewarding for the Southwest, as the addition of a new state brings its total to seven, still eclipsing the six of the Southeast Igbos. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles under Tinubu’s watch after flooding his administration with an unprecedented number of Yorubas favored for plum jobs. Of course, no one denies that past presidents have behaved similarly, but President Tinubu has clearly elevated ethno-nationalism to an unparalleled peak. 
Meanwhile, Prince Senator Ned Nwoko is glowing with pure excitement, thrilled to see his goals on the brink of taking root. The senator has untiringly championed the tricky cause of Anioma state creation to be zoned to the Southeast. This is welcomed news to the Igbo community of Delta state after decades of clamoring for a state of their own to be part of their Igbo kits and kins across the Niger river.
But for sure, boundary adjustment is going to feature prominently in this deliberative process, which then begs the monumental question: Will the Igbo community of Igbanke now stuck in Edo state be carved into the emerging Anioma state or remain in Edo, where they clearly feel unwanted and are kicking and screaming for help to leave that state quicker than you can say ‘Oba of Benin, we are not your slaves’?
