Anioma in Modern Nigerian Politics
Dating is usually difficult in the analysis of historical and political phenomena. And yet, dating is necessary for a clear perspective of what sequence and reality are all about. To date Anioma in modern Nigerian politics and the role Anioma played therein, will take us back to 1944 when the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (later called the National Council of Nigerian Citizens) was formed under the leadership of Nnamdi Azikiwe.
With Azikiwe coming back from the United States of America and first establishing in Ghana, then Nigeria, he linked up with Macaulay and mobilized other citizens to form the NCNC, strictly dedicated to free Africa and Nigeria from colonial bondage, Nigerian politics in those days was restricted principally to Lagos which later proved to be the hot bed of mobilization of Nigerian citizens in the struggle against imperialism.
In this struggle, prominent Aniomas vigorously participated under the leadership of Chief Dennis Osadebe. Aniomas promptly followed the charismatic leadership of Azikiwe into the NCNC where, with studious application and interactions, the notion of an Anioma entity germinated.
It has to be recalled that at this moment in time, Nigeria only had three regions in place - the North, the East, and the West, alongside other ethnic groups like the Ijaws, Urhobos, Itsekiris, Edo, Akoko Edo etc. These groups were in the minority, dominated by the majority Yoruba ethnic group. It was only natural therefore that Aniomas (then referred to as Western Ibos) world sought to ally with the other minority groups to exit the Western region.
Thus, from 1947, when the Richards Constitution finally created in law, the regionalization of the Nigerian State, agitation began by Aniomas and the other groups for a Mid-Western State. It was clear then to Anioma politicians, that a Mid-Western State was not the final bus stop.
Thus began the feverish urging for an Anioma State. Meanwhile, Aniomas had to engage in an alliance with other groups to first get an excision from the Western State. Political circumstances played into their hands as the NCNC came into an alliance with the North - based Northern Peoples Congress (later called Nigerian People's Congress (NPC) to form the pre-independence government of 1959. The Action Group, which was in power in the West, was in opposition at the Centre. The NCNC, in a typically hard - ball politicking had formed an alliance with Edo, in an NCNC - Otu Edo Alliance and with the Aniomas in solid NCNC hands, took the Urhobas and other non- Yoruba groups in the then Western State into confidence promising them a Mid-Western State.
Machiavellian politics soon came into play with the NPC and NCNC taking advantage of the internal division within the Action Group to organize a referendum in the Mid-West which created a Mid-Western State in 1963, with Benin City as capital, and Chief Dennis Osadebe as Premier.
This was the beginning of the pivotal role which Anioma was to play in Nigerian modern politics.
This role as it was then was analysed on an institutional basis - i.e the role of parties and regions, including the Federal Government.
Then came the aberration called Army rule. Without going into details about the causes and course of the intervention of the Armed Forces, it is in the fore that Aniomas were prominent in the establishment of the Army government in Nigeria, and in the revolutionary civil war in Nigeria between 1967 and 1970. Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu led the first coup which overthrew the government of Tafawa Balewa. This is no place to discuss the details of that coup, but Nzeogwu was explicit in his broadcast, that the elimination of corruption (the destruction of the "ten percent" syndrome and establishment of good governance was his primary objective. His coup led to the "revenge" coup plotted and executed by the entire Northern establishment, a coup which redefined the position and role of the army in Nigerian politics. The army since then has been portrayed, not as a bastion of Nigerian unity, but a tool of regional and ethnic caucuses to satisfy sectional interests. This can be seen in the policies of recruitments, deployments, appointments, promotions, etc.
With the revenge coup and the ensuing civil war, some Anioma senior military officers had no option but to flee to Biafra, especially after the Biafran invasion of the Mid-West. There, they played a major role in the organization of the Biafran army and fought and commanded Biafran troops, since they were top commanders in the Nigerian army.
A further creation of states in the country led to the renaming of Mid - West as Bendel State (to reflect the Benin-Delta provinces which was the original description of the provincial structure which made up Mid-West) . Meanwhile, the agitation for Anioma State became increasingly strong after the Bendel State nomenclature and after it was discovered by Aniomas that Bendel State in its functioning, threw Aniomas further into a more denigrating minority than what they were even in the Western region.
At the same time, the Urhobos, Ijaws, Itsekiris started an agitation for Delta state which excluded the people of Anioma.
The stage was then set for a final decision on the fate of Bendel State. Would Bendel be split into three - Edo, Anioma and Delta? Or what would happen? General Ibrahim Babangida thought otherwise, and in 1991, August, created Edo State and Delta State. Benin retained the capital of Edo State and Asaba was named the capital of Delta State.
In our next and final edition on this series The History of Anioma People, we shall discuss the implications of these decisions and the justification for the creation of Anioma State in a united Nigeria.
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