The original Anioma movement had no advocacy for Anioma in the Southeastern region. The proposition for Anioma to be joined to the Southeastern region is the creation of Ned Nwoko out of his own mischief and unknown interests. He has now added Onitsha as part of the future Anioma state, a prospect abandoned decades ago
By Basil Okoh
Delta North senator Prince Ned Nwoko has gathered together Igbo jobbers to rewrite the history of Anioma people in his ongoing effort to move Anioma to the Southeastern region. In his obsession to subsume Anioma to the Southeast, Nwoko is pouring money into propaganda and misinformation, deploying all manner of men and women to rewrite the history of communities in Anioma to fit his narrative of Igbo kinship.
So it was a surprise that a Prince of the Nwoko family of Idumuje Ugboko where Ned Nwoko comes from, alarmed by the ongoing pro-Igbo propaganda peddled by the Ned Nwoko group that could warrant a conceited perception of Idumuje Ugboko history, called to correct the impression that Idumuje Ugboko people migrated from Igbo land. He stated that Idumuje Ugboko does not have origin in Igbo land or have any historical connection with the Igbo. He also denied origin from Ottah. He narrated that Idumuje Ugboko’s four quarters migrated from different places but none from Igbo land. “Some quarters come from Benin, others from Yoruba land and yet others from Ishan”. He mentioned a town in present day Ondo which cannot now be recalled. He stated that the name “Nwoko” has origin in Bini and has no connection to Igbo language. The original Nwoko forebears, he said, migrated from Benin.
So the question is, If Ned Nwoko’s own community reject the notion of Igbo consanguinity, why is he forcing it on other Anioma communities?
Note that Igbo do not write the history of their own communities but are quick to forge Anioma history that they know nothing about, just to prove Igbo kinship. You cannot see them write the history of Owerri, Ozubulu, Enugu, Aba or any town or community in the east. There are no chronicles of empires or kingdoms in Igbo history or accounts of major events of historical record in pre-colonial Igbo land. The only kingdom we read about in Igboland from the 17th century is the kingdom of Onitsha which was founded by Kime, a deposed regent of Agbor kingdom.
Nri, the only place of any consequence in the entire history of the Igbo is about Eri, a historical figure who lived in the 11th or 16th century , there is disagreement on carbon dating results to know the correct dates.
You cannot be louder or more disruptive than Ned Nwoko, so we wait to see if hollow noise can take the place of thought and action. ANIOMA state will not be created. Not under the watch of Senator Ned Nwoko
As the hack writer Chidi Chukwutem wrote, Ned Nwoko has gone to invite the intervention of “Southeastern Traditional Rulers” into Anioma internal affairs. They have intervened on Anioma state creation matter without the consent of Anioma traditional rulers, repeating the talking points of Ned Nwoko that Anioma state should be created to make up the number of six states for the Southeast region. Obscure traditional rulers of the Southeast are being enlisted by Nwoko in the fight to capture the yet to be created Anioma state.
Chidi Chukwutem wrote:
“In June 2025, South East traditional rulers unanimously backed Anioma State’s creation and its inclusion in the zone, viewing it as a step toward equity.”
This proves that there is a grand plan championed by Ned Nwoko for Igbo to capture Anioma for the southeast under the guise of kinship with the Anioma people. But then the Southeast have no traditional rulers, just pretenders to thrones that do not exist and are counter cultural to their Igbo people.
“Igbo enwere Eze” (Igbo have no kings) is the deep historical truth with which the Igbo confronted Lord Lugard and the colonial government that tried to impose Indirect Rule in Igboland. That popular riposte of the Igbo, duly captured in the history of colonial rule in Igboland as written by Adiele Afigbo, Igbo foremost historian in his book “The Warrant Chiefs”, explored the historical truth that the Igbo governing culture does not allow kingship and forbids the installation of kings, resulting in the issuance of warrants by the colonial government to men that they chose to make Chiefs in different communities in Igboland.
These men were known as Warrant Chiefs who became the rulers on whom the colonial government built the indirect rule system to prove its applicability in Igboland. But the system was abused when Igbo men resorted to buying warrants to make themselves kings in communities where warrants were never issued. Outside Onitsha, kingship in Igboland is a colonial creation with so many kings in funny garbs. These are the Interlopers Ned Nwoko gathered together to make pronouncements on Anioma. Obi of Onitsha, the only real king in Igboland, was not among the rulers that made that pronouncement on Anioma for the Southeast.
What does Anioma’s own traditional rulers say about the creation of Anioma state and being yoked to the Southeast and not the South-South. Many traditional rulers in Anioma have confided that they leaned on Ned Nwoko to leave Anioma in the South-South but Nwoko would not accept. They say that the hunting dog that must die will fail to hear the hunters whistle.
But the truth is that nobody made Ned Nwoko master of Anioma and nobody elected him as spokesman for Anioma people. We had senator Nosike Ikpo (1979-1983) who represented the interest of Delta North people and was committed to Anioma state creation but he was never the spokesman for the Anioma state movement or Delta North.
Ned Nwoko is the senator for Delta North, the leader and spokesman for Anioma state movement, financier and decision maker of the Anioma state movement, historian and organizer, all by himself. Nobody sat with him to take decision on Anioma going to the Southeastern region. He decided that all by himself. He is the champion and alter ego of Anioma.
Ned Nwoko’s overreach in his work as senator will soon unravel, splattering on his face, the smelly wastes of mischief he has gathered in his short stay as senator.
He was duly warned early not to stake his political career on the creation of Anioma state. Now his desperation to remake Delta North into Igbo land has raised deep suspicion of his sincerity and mission in Anioma politics. His hack writers are inundating Delta North with false histories and exotic narratives of origin, exploiting the peoples malleability and tolerance.
Nwoko sees his work as senator as a mission to bring Delta North into the Biafra enclave. He wants to achieve a sinister purpose which we are yet to know. It will be interesting to know why a man would be spending so much money without a seeming self interest.
So Chidi Chukwutem, propagandist for Senator Ned Nwoko’s war to subdue the Anioma people, must take the prized “okpa” for his obfuscation of issues of Anioma state creation. His abuse of our intellect deserves a dishonourable mention in Ned Nwoko’s disingenuous efforts to railroad Anioma into Biafra.
But Anioma will never be part of a dysfunctional Biafra which was destroyed more by organizational ineptitude than the lack of fire power during the Civil war.
While patriotic politicians are looking for ways and means of bringing development to their people, Ned Nwoko is looking for ways to yoke his own people to a deadly Igbo race. For all the boasting and voluble talk, Delta State still has higher GDP than the average for the five Igbo states.
Chidi Chukwutem though well instructed to lie, took mendacity to new heights in his response to my cautionary tale to Senator Ned Nwoko. He lied when he attributed Nwoko’s well publicized revenue comparison between the southeast and Delta state to me. He thereafter went ahead to make unverifiable claims of Igbo superiority on wealth creation that is not anchored on evident facts. He claims that Imo and Anambra states “punch above their weights in human development indices,” when the villages in Imo and Anambra without access roads, electricity and public water supply will not attest to its veracity.
He also claims that the two states have higher literacy rates than Delta State but we know that it was Peter Obi who as governor reversed the trend of Igbo young boys denied education and made to serve as apprentices to traders and artisans. Now more Igbo boys are in school and the markets are starved of apprentices, without a thank you to Peter Obi.
He again claims that the Igbo states have “better entrepreneurial ecosystem (whatever that means) and “private sector driven growth”, all arising from “Igbo ingenuity”.
On the true mission of Ned Nwoko and Igbo conspiracy, he writes:
“Anioma’s oil resources would complement the South East’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, sparking real estate booms (e.g., beyond Asaba) and infrastructure.”
So the mission of the Igbo in Anioma is to seize Anioma wealth and hand it to Igbo for enterprise since Anioma people have oil but no ingenuity. Igbo have ingenuity and so will take money from Anioma oil wealth to build businesses of their own. The insult here captures the underlying reason why Igbo are in cahoots with Senator Nwoko to redirect Anioma to Igbo land. It is also the reason why Nwoko and his Igbo jobbers are running riot in the media. It is all for Igbo to be placed at vantage positions to exploit the wealth of Anioma for the benefit of Igbo people. It is to serve the Southeast at the expense of Anioma people. Ned Nwoko’s LGA, Aniocha North, does not produce a barrel of oil. Aniocha North, together with Oshimili North, are the poorest LGA’s in Delta state.
There are hardly any industries in Igboland based on local technologies or harnessing indigenously produced raw materials. They are all import dependent like breweries using wheat to make beer or vehicle Assembly plants using knock down parts from China. So what technology do the Igbo own?
Throughout the civil war, hunger was the defining condition of Igboland otherwise known as Biafra. Delta North became its food basket. Igbo’s would slither across the River Niger in the nights to Ebuh, Illah, Ogwashi, Ossissa, Aboh, Kwale and travel all the way to Agbor and Obiaruku to forage for food to take back to Biafra. That trend didn’t end with the war. These days in the mornings, you see trucks in their numbers moving from Delta communities laden with food, crossing the Niger bridge into Igbo land. Igbo land has never been able to feed itself and has always depended on Delta North, otherwise called Anioma, sometimes for freeloading.
And then we know as a fact that Igbo people throughout their history have displayed no ingenuity, no special skills or bravery and developed no distinctive technology to use by themselves or export to the world. During their violent rebellion, 1967 – 1970, it was Anioma commanders and officers who fought the remarkable battles for Biafra even when the bulk of Igbo soldiers were exploiting the war for personal gain. Their men and women were engaged in undermining Biafra, their own country in “ahia attack”, profiting from trade and prostitution with enemy soldiers.
Colonel Joseph “Air Raid” Achuzia from Asaba was the most outstanding military commander in Biafra. There were Col. Nwawo from Onicha Olona, Col. Nwajei and Okonkwo from Ogwashi and Igbuzor. Commander of the Biafra Navy, Commodore Anuku the man who was responsible for the massacre of Nigerian troops on the River Niger was from Owa. When Ojukwu got fully encircled and was forced by the turn of battles to form a new Liberation Army, it was to Anioma fighters trapped in Biafra that he turned to form the core officers to avoid “sabo”. Ojukwu had killed without credible trial, the five majors: Victor Banjo, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Philip Alale, Samuel Agbam and Nwambu.
In military technology, the “Ogbunigwe” talked about so much, was just a crude contraption, comprising a pot containing so much metal shrapnel and filled with TNT. There was no militarily sustainable technology emerging out of Biafra that is in use by any army in the world.
Today in the Russian war in Ukraine, the world can see how a smaller country, Ukraine, is holding down Russia with fervent patriotism, military technology, bravery and superior organization. Russia is a superpower, the biggest country in the world and the second most powerful Army. But the Igbo keep boasting about the exploits of Biafra when they lost Bonny, their main source of revenue early in the battle and never regained it and when they were boxed in, leaving nearly a million infants suffering from kwashiorkor, starving to death and having to be shipped to Gabon where they are lost for good.
And then we must be able to identify the nature of Igbo ingenuity around the world today: The Igbo ingenuity include the men and women on death row in Thailand, waiting to be executed for drug trafficking. Those do not include the hundreds more who have already faced executions across Asia. Igbo ingenuity has also been reported from across Asia where there are reportedly hordes of Igbo criminals in various prisons across the nations of Asia. Added to the yet – to – be ascertained number of Igbo prisoners in the nations of Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Igbo ingenuity has brought in massive gains in terms of Igbo blood shed across the world. But Anioma people in our sanity and humility don’t want to be counted as part of the self destructive region of ingenuity. We excel in the competitive businesses and professional work we engage in around the world.
Amnesty International has just called the Southeast an “ungoverned space where 1,800 people have been killed in two years”. Ned Nwoko wants Anioma people to become part of an ungoverned space which killed 1,800 of its own people in two years.
Igbo ingenuity manifest in so many other ways. Ingenuity shows in the Oke-Ite phenomenon sweeping across Igboland. Oke-Ite is the technology of filling earthenware pots with human blood mixed with body parts and human organs to conjure money. The “technology” is such that you don’t have to work for money but have it conjured to create wealth. Oke Ite has seized Igboland to the point where men and women in groups and batches get together to swim naked in shallow and muddy rivers with occult priests wielding talismans and invoking the gods of money to come take hold of the men and women. Oke Ite is the money spinning technology in Igboland and it is what they are bringing to “civilize” Anioma.
Ned Nwoko in advocacy for Anioma to be yoked to the Southeast should have plans for us to be included in the Oke-Ite wealth creation rave. Insecurity and bloody savagery has always been a hot button issue in Biafra which Ned Nwoko and his job men are determined to export to Anioma as an inclusive part of the new Biafra.
Over a hundred dead bodies were seen floating in Ezzu River suspected killed by police in Awkuzu SARS and by ritualists in communities on the banks of the River.
Nearly two hundred dead bodies killed and thrown away into the bushes with missing organs were found in the bushes between the Owerri road to the second Niger bridge in Onitsha. This was revealed by the governor of Anambra himself, Prof. Charles Soludo.
At Okija, countless bodies at different stages of rot were discovered in the bushes around their shrine. Don’t forget that was the same shrine an elected governor was abducted to swear to blood oath and allegiance to another man and occult group.
The governor of Anambra Prof. Soludo has claimed that 99% of kidnap victims claimed to have been killed by Fulani herdsmen were actually killed by Igbo people in the bushes of the state.
On Mondays, nobody goes for work or trade in the entire five states of Igbo land. Unknown Gun men and brigands roam free in the five state territory, killing and maiming without let or hindrance while the markets, farms, trade centres and work places remain closed. No one dares ask questions. Unknown gunmen have been seen in many videos butchering people in the Southeast and in some videos eating the bodies of their victims.
We recall the violent operations of the now rested “Bakassi Group”. Young brigands were given free rein to patrol the streets of the Southeast and violently cut suspected criminals to pieces with machete’s, right on busy streets in wild orgies of savagery.
The culture of violence, brutality, killings and dissonance is what Ned Nwoko wants the Igbo to bring to the prospective Anioma state and its people. We will be grouped with these violent people who have no consideration for human life, who kill and maim without provocation, a people who are condemned to violent brutality and unceasing accusations of cannibalism.
In his pursuit of Anioma state creation, it is evident that Ned Nwoko does not understand the real dynamics of regionalism and geopolitics in Nigeria. His naïveté shows in his belief that the president will just sign on the bill from the National Assembly, distribute the bill around state Assemblies and win in 24 states to have Anioma state created.
The first shock to senator Nwoko will be that the president of Nigeria has no power to create states. He only has power to sign on the created states. The second is that there are deep geopolitical considerations that rule the politics for state creation between and within the regions. Creating one state requires the consideration to create one in another region.
Lastly but most importantly, Nwoko in his present advocacy will not win 20% of the votes in Anioma for the creation of Anioma state in a referendum, we assure him. He has not been able to win over the legislators of his own Delta House of Assembly or Chairmen of Local Governments in Anioma. He is now mostly sounding off, beating loud drums to impress his own hirelings, for victories that are still elusive and far from being won.
Ned Nwoko raised a raging kerfuffle with noise and overreach for the creation of Anioma state, without first understanding the underlying trade-offs between regions in state creation. He did not take the patience to study the original template of the Anioma state movement before jumping into the fray. He did not understand the nature and management of the struggle by the original creators of the Anioma movement, so he had to make up with lies and fabrications and improvisations for lack of knowledge and understanding of the guiding issues, taking up alliance with the Igbo instead of his own Anioma people.
He has now confounded the struggle for Anioma with lies and self promotion. The original Anioma movement had no advocacy for Anioma in the Southeastern region. The proposition for Anioma to be joined to the Southeastern region is the creation of Ned Nwoko out of his own mischief and unknown interests. He has now added Onitsha as part of the future Anioma state, a prospect abandoned decades ago. So he’s now faced with two challenges, none of which he has the capacity to deliver on: state creation and boundary adjustment. His highfalutin boasts cannot provide solution to any of the two challenges. You cannot be louder or more disruptive than Ned Nwoko, so we wait to see if hollow noise can take the place of thought and action.
ANIOMA state will not be created. Not under the watch of Senator Ned Nwoko.
•Opinions, positions or thoughts expressed here are personal and strictly of the writer/author and do not represent the views of The Daily Crucible.
