₦airaland Forum

THE CONCEPT OF ANIOMA STATE - PART ONE


By Chris O. O. Biose
chrisoobiose@gmail.com


The main issue in the current debate over creation of Anioma State is not whether the people of the area desire such a state. That was settled over 50 years ago in several petitions for the creation of the state. As I wrote at page 150 of my book entitled Anioma: Path to Political Emancipation, BOLD Publishers Limited, Lagos, 2011;

“No segment of the Nigerian society has had a longer or more justifiable demand for state creation than Anioma. From 1938, through 1975 and 1980 to date, the Aniomas consistently clamoured for a state of their own. Unfortunately, the vagaries of political power structures in Nigeria have prevented the realization of this dream.”

Meaning of ANIOMA
The name Anioma is an acronym for the four local government areas of Aniocha, Ndokwa, Ika and Oshimili in the defunct Bendel State, formerly Mid-Western State, which was carved out of Western Region on August 9, 1963.

The name is made up of the first letters of these four local government areas, namely A, N, I, and O. In the common language of the area, Ani means land while Anio… means, “land of”. The suffix ‘MA’ or ‘oma’ means good. Hence, Anioma means “the good land” or “the land of good people”.

According to mystical tradition, the sound ‘MA’ signifies the mothering force in nature. Hence, the spiritual significance of the name Anioma is that of a land where Mother Nature provides good in prolific abundance.

The coinage Anioma is attributed to the late Chief Dennis C. Osadebay, Premier of the defunct Mid-western region.

The Anioma people inhabit the area west of the lower Niger River. In current political grouping, it is located in the South-South geo-political zone or South-South Region of Nigeria. In Delta State, it is called Delta North Senatorial District.

Anioma Culture Area
Anioma is a part of the subculture of Western Igbo civilization within the socio-geographical area west of the River Niger best described as Anioma land. These include Enuani, Ika and Ndokwa people, all of whom collectively make up Anioma, but they have different dialects.

Map of Anioma Culture Area

Source: Wikipedia Online

According to Professor M. Angulu Onwuejeogwu (1972), the anthropological concept of culture area is “based on empirical observation that cultures have spatial or geographical distribution traits, complexes and patterns at any one given period.” A culture area is made up of geographically discreet regions wherein comparable culture complexes are found.

Culture consists of the way of life of a particular people. It is a social rather than a physiological heritage. Every people have their culture and a memory of the ways their forefathers had done things.

Language is a dominant theme in culture. It is one of the principal ways of identifying an ethnic, cultural or subcultural group.

In defining Anioma subculture within the Igbo culture area in Africa, Professor Onwuejeogwu states:

“People living within the Igbo culture area, apart from the two known enclaves, speak the same language and so constitute what linguists call a speech community. Within this speech community, there are scores of regional dialects. Amongst West Niger Igbo, there are three dialect clusters, Ika dialects, Ukwuani dialects and Enuani dialects.

“All dialects of the same language share a common structure and a common written form amongst other things. Dialects of the same language may differ from each other in pronunciation, grammatical construction and vocabulary, but communication between speakers of different dialects remains possible. Hence, the peoples of Agbor and Umunede of the Ika dialect of West Niger Igbo can communicate after sometime with peoples of Owerri dialect or Nsukka dialect or Etche dialect or Ikwerre dialect of the East Niger Igbo, while the Ika may not communicate with their nearest neighbours, the Ishan, except one happens to understand the language of the other.”

Anioma dialects are basically part of Igbo language group. Most Anioma people have Igbo names. In addition, most Anioma towns and villages also have Igbo names. Clearly, the various Anioma people are part of the Igbo Culture Area.

Distinctive Characteristics of Anioma Civilisation
Clearly, language lends considerable support to the construction of history and ethnology but it is not wholly determinative. In spite of indisputable historical and cultural affinities in the distant past, present day Anioma has grown increasingly distinct from Eastern Igbo culture as differences in social institutions and attitude to life widened over the centuries. Anioma people continuously evolved a distinct cultural identity which increasingly marks them out in the African world. Therefore, the fact that Anioma land is historically and culturally a part of the Igbo Culture Area does not in any way mean that Anioma people are on all fours with present-day Igbos East of the River Niger.

Civilisation has to do with how a people try to cope with their existential problems. Although Anioma is contiguous to several neighbours, it is united by cultural homogeneity and value consensus about its universe of experience. In addition to similarities in material culture such as mode of dressing, arts and crafts, Anioma people also developed certain cultural values, norms, mores and taboos that distinguish them as one people. This has to do with social ethics, concepts and notions of good and bad, of fairness and justice, which are fairly similar within the culture area. These are enshrined in the form of proverbs and anecdotes commonly shared by the people.

Anioma is an authentic cultural expression of the African people. The fundamental value ideal in Anioma culture is ezi madu (a good person) or nwa ezi madu (child of a good person). The values upon which this ideal is built include ezi-okwu (truthfulness), trust, honour, hard work, bravery and personal integrity. These are indispensable components of what constitutes ezi madu.

The social ideology of the people is egalitarian rather than individualistic and exploitative. This social ideology entails a meritocracy made up of those who are worthy of praise, men who are best in their fields as judged by their fellowmen.

Anioma has deep respect for character and integrity as well as deference to elders and women. The Aniomas are known to be peaceful, law-abiding, considerate and accommodating.

One of the most significant cultural symbols of Anioma is akwa-ocha. (home woven white cloth). It was produced and worn by the people and this marked them out in any cultural show. Households cultivated cotton in their farms. These were harvested, dried and processed to produce the soft fibre for spinning in their local looms. Crafts women utilised these to produce all-white wrapper famously known as akwa-ocha. The final product was also known as ogbenye-apani, which literally means ‘not to be lifted by the poor’: figuratively, the maxim indicates that akwa-ocha is ‘beyond the means of paupers’, due to the rigorous process of its production.

The soil in most parts of Enuani and Ika as well as some parts of Ukwuani is laterite red colour, yet the people delight in and scrupulously maintain akwa-ocha. The choice of white is a symbol of the general social aspiration of the people to live unblemished lives. Anioma people place high value on cleanliness of mind and body. Anything filthy is abhorrent among the people.

Another significant cultural symbol is ekpele (flute) which is used to greet or praise chiefs and royalty.

Anioma Resistance to Forces of Oppression
Anioma civilisation is age-old. The people however suffered violent and severe distortions inflicted by external forces over the past 500 years.

From the 16th and 17th centuries, Anioma fought wars of resistance against Benin expansionist proclivity.

As many other nationalities close to the sea on the West Coast of Africa, the Anioma nation suffered the pangs of the slave trade from the 18th century up to the 19th century.

At the turn of the 19th century, Anioma people fought gallantly to resist desecration of their culture by colonial adventurers as evident in the Ekumeku Resistance Movement which lasted from 1894-1910.

In January 1914, the British colonialists amalgamated the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria with the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria to form one country christened Protectorate of Nigeria. The colonialists split the large territory into administrative units such as Regions, Provinces, Divisions and Districts.

In this process, Anioma was split into parts and joined to alien groups who then acquired political precedence over Anioma people in spite of the fact that the people lived in unity before the territory that later became Nigeria was colonised by the British.

Asaba Division was joined to Benin Province while Aboh Division was joined to Urhobos, Ijaw and Itsekiri in Warri Province. For decades, most of Ndokwa land was placed under Warri Province. During this long period, the Ndokwas looked to the Urhobos, not only as neighbours but as political leaders. Thus, the colonialists did incalculable violence to the unity of Anioma people by balkanizing them between the then Benin and Warri provinces. There was no referendum. It was purely British administrative convenience.

In 1922, Anioma leaders sent a delegation to London to correct the anomaly. Another protest letter was officially lodged by the Obi of Aboh in 1937.

Again in 1951, Chief Dennis Osadebay (Oshimili), Chief F. H. Utomi (Aniocha), Obi of Akumazi (Ika), Chief Frank Oputa Otutu and Mr. J. A. P. Oki (both of Ndokwa), jointly moved a motion in the then Western House of Assembly to seek “a separate province” for Anioma people who had been balkanized and merged with Benin and Warri provinces by the colonialists.

After prolonged protests by Ndokwa leaders, the area was finally joined administratively to their brethren in other parts of Anioma land. The people enjoyed relative peace until the catastrophe of the Nigeria-Biafra war and its aftermath

Anioma War Travails
Perhaps, the climax of atrocities and macabre brutality of the Nigeria-Biafra war was the Asaba massacre, aptly described by Emma Okocha in his epoch-making book, Blood on the Niger: The First Black-on-Black Genocide (Revised Edition 2010).

The Asaba massacre was followed by several months of systematic massacres in several nearby villages notably, Isheagu. The Isheagu Massacre was led by Lt. Col. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia (as he then was). The troops arrived Isheagu at about 8:00pm, on May 2, 1968, rounded up the King, His Royal Majesty Agbogidi Obi John Onyema 1, and his chiefs and summarily executed them. Emma Okocha gave names of several males in the town who were similarly picked up and shot.

For much of the period of the war and several years after, Anioma land was occupied by hostile troops during which period Anioma farmlands and farm produce were indiscriminately destroyed. The People suffered inestimable losses. Indigenes were shooting targets for Nigerian soldiers. They were among other Igbos who were routinely dehumanised, mutilated and murdered by Federal troops.

During this period, hundreds of Anioma ladies were raped and taken away for forced marriage by hostile soldiers from alien nationalities.

Anioma State Movement
The people of Anioma recognized their unique identity in the Nigerian experiment and started demand for recognition during the era of colonial rule. At a mammoth rally held at Amai (in present day Ukwuani Local Government Area), in August 1956, they expressed their desire in a resolution passed at that rally but at that time, it was not called Anioma State. Rather, they demanded for the creation of a separate province out of the then Western Region to be known as the West Niger Province.

The proposed West Niger Province was to be formed by the then Asaba and Aboh Divisions. A headquarters for the new Province was proposed to be sited at the meeting point of the two or three components of the province. The objective was to put the Anioma people on equal footing with the rest of the Benin Province and Delta Province, rather than balkanizing Anioma between these two provinces. The resolution was forwarded to the then Colonial Secretary, Rt. Hon Lennox Boyd.

In 1957, the British Government set up the Minorities Commission under the Chairmanship of Sir Henry Willink, QC, to examine the problems of the Minorities throughout Nigeria. The Report of the Commission however did not meet the demands of Anioma people.

See Part Two for concluding part

Space booked

Nice one. We will never be part of the murderous south east.

Chekwume16:
Nice one. We will never be part of the murderous south east.

We keep telling them, they don't listen

NO LET DEM ADD IT TO SOUTH WEST

Igbos and by force attache.
Everybody is rejecting them from left to center.

It is simple,I think SE should go ahead with creation of 6th SE state within our region we have no time for people that are still suffering from identity crisis.

Bitterkola100:
Igbos and by force attache.
Everybody is rejecting them from left to center.

Nobody invited them before.They through Ned Nwoko want to join SE dont get it twisted.

Ojiofor:
Nobody invited them before.They through Ned Nwoko want to join SE dont get it twisted.

why una come carry the matter for head

Bitterkola100:
why una come carry the matter for head

Carry wetin for head?
The creation of addition state is for SE to make it 6 like other zones and southeast politicians have already sponsored a bill in national assembly for that effect before Ned Nwoko pleaded that rather than creating a new state from the existing 5 SE states that it is better Anioma in created as the 6th SE state and since then they have been lobbying SE stakeholders to accept the arrangement.So if they do not want to join SE they should rest while a 6th state will be created within SE.No stress.

Ojiofor:
Carry wetin for head?
The creation of addition state is for SE to make it 6 like other zones and southeast politicians have already sponsored a bill in national assembly for that effect before Ned Nwoko pleaded that rather than creating a new state from the existing 5 SE states that it is better Anioma in created as the 6th SE state and since then they have been lobbying SE stakeholders to accept the arrangement.So if they do not want to join SE they should rest while a 6th state will be created within SE.No stress.

And it didn't cross your mind that Ned was using you guys to create Anioma at the Senate so he can finally get a shot at being a governor .

AuschwitzPrefec:
And it didn't cross your mind that Ned was using you guys to create Anioma at the Senate so he can finally get a shot at being a governor .

Who is he using?
his Anioma people or people of SE?

South East and South South are not recognised by the constitution.

So anyone who is worried about being carved out of a zone not recognised by law, and put in another zone not recognised by law, is a total fool

Is it not too late to cry blood?
When you guy's had the golden opportunity to create your Anioma state, when your Big Sister Mariam Babagida was the first Lady, you people decided to join your Anioma with Delta state and greedily made Asaba the State Capital.
It is too early to forget history that you people decided to join Delta state, so they will use their oil money to develop the state capital Asaba and environs.
Your goal have been achieved.
You now have a modern stadium international Airport, good link roads, University etc.
Now oil value have dropped.
Countries in the world are diversifying from oil.
It is now your greedy eyes are cleared.
You are going no where
Bunch of hypocrites and opportunist.

Unity beggar. U go cry last last

Shawarmagirl:
Where elders make decisions, children are not involved.

Go and play with sand with your fellow children.