CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATE CREATION: HISTORICAL REASONS WHY TORU-IBE STATE MUST BE CREATED FOR WESTERN IZONS/IJAWS.
SERIES: Part One)
"Ijaw people must push the quest for an homogeneous Toru-Ibe State from Delta, Edo and Ondo States"
"The creation of Toru-Ibe State will solve more problems than the creation of most other proposed states" ~IduwiniVoice
INTRODUCTION:
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
For decades, the Izons/Ijaws living in the coastal areas of the Niger Delta have been yearning to be grouped together under one administration, for the good of the people in the long run. There was a general believe that governments based inland did not and have still not appreciated the peculiar developmental needs of riverine communities and areas. This lack of appreciation has inevitably resulted in open, widespread neglect and marginalization of riverine dwellers, spanning decades of anguish, bitterness and struggles.
The Izons/Ijaws, laboring under the the pains of deliberate state-sponsored balkanization and neglect since the colonial days, saw hope, when General Yakubu Gowon, former Head of State, announced the proposal to create states in 1966. When states were eventually created in 1967, the Western Ijaws (present day Ondo, Edo and Delta states balkanized to weaken them) were included in the Mid-Western State instead of the Old Rivers State as desired, struggled and fought for since the colonial days
The Ijaws of Old Rivers State saw in practical terms, a concern for the development of the riverine areas of the state. The story was different for the Western Ijaw Division, as the neglect continued prompting the resurrection of the agitation that the problems of human and physical development of Western Ijaw Division cannot be solved until it is merged with the then Old Rivers State. Western Ijaw Division, therefore, continue to struggle for a merger with the Old Rivers State for a very long time. Their determination to achieve this end was unappealable.
By this practical work, we will come to appreciate why the Ijaws of the Old Western Division want a merger administratively with their kin in the Old Rivers State and what has sustained the struggle for it till date.
The argument for a single administrative unit for the Ijaws of Western Ijaw Division and Old Rivers State in 1967 is not based on false evidence or premises like other tribes in Nigeria, who intend to get what they want through treachery, falseness, tribal sentiment or wishful thinking. This need actually emanated from facts and recommendations by Commissions of Inquiry instituted by the various Pre-and-Post independence governments of Nigeria.
As at 1967, all criteria laid down by the then Federal Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon, for the creation of states were satisfied and met but the Ijaws of Western Ijaw Division were deliberately balkanized into Ondo, Edo and Delta states without their consent afterwards.
The Ijaw Ethnic Nationality insisted on the grouping of contiguous areas into one administrative units such as the Western Ijaw Division, Opobo Town and Andoni in the 1966 attempt.
The Ijaw Ethnic Nationality refused to be discouraged in the pursuit of their just cause by false accusations from many quarters in the Niger Delta about ethnic domination. Western Ijaws presented their case and prayed for full understanding and fair judgement from the Federal Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon and the Nigerian public but failed in 1967.
The fact of the Ijawman's agitation for self governance by a merger in one administrative unit for the past four decades, long before the creation of states, belies the wicked and false propaganda that they want to dominate other ethnic groups. The consistency of their conception of the political grouping appropriate for their problems is a credit to the Ijaw struggle.
The vision of the Ijaws for the Old Rivers State always encompassed the present Rivers State, Western Ijaw Division (comprising Ondo, Edo, Delta States), Opobo Town, Andoni and Ndoki areas. The Ijaw Ethnic Nationality strongly believed such a grouping is an appropriate unit in the concept of one Nigeria.
The present struggle for Toru-Ibe State and Oil Rivers State in the 2025 states creation exercise by the 10th National Assembly is the yearning for a homogeneous administrative unit for the Ijaws of Old Western Ijaw Division born out of verifiable historical accounts. By this historical accounts, every single Ijaw man is challenged to presse on. We must take the challenges on the way by the horn and face the future with the same zeal exhibited by our forebears.
.....To be continued
© AFOEGBA PETER GOODYEAR ESQ, PMP.
NATIONAL LEGAL ADVISER,
MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE IZON ETHNIC NATIONALITY IN THE NIGER DELTA (MOSIEND)
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