Stakeholders from Northern Cross River on Saturday demanded the creation of Ogoja State during a House of Representatives public hearing on constitution review held in Calabar.

The stakeholders noted that the creation of an Ogoja state was long overdue, considering that Ogoja province was the only remaining area in the old Eastern region without a state. The old Eastern region comprises the present South-East and South-South geo-political zones.

According to some stakeholders at the zonal centre ‘B’ of the constitution review held for Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River, this is an auspicious time to right the historical wrong by creating Ogoja state.

They said that no meaningful national restructuring would be completed without addressing the injustice of Ogoja’s exclusion. They were also of the view that creating an Ogoja state would not be a favour, but rather a constitutional right, moral obligation, and a political necessity.

Former justice minister Kanu Agabi stated that historically, the agitation for states was initially limited to the demand for a Middle Belt state, a Midwest state, and a Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers state.

“But in answer to these demands, the nation proceeded to proliferate states so that the purpose for which the minority communities made these demands is completely defeated. Since then, the condition of the minorities has worsened and has never improved as they continue to suffer,” he said.

Mr Agabi, 79, lamented that the Ogoja people have suffered all forms of indignities, ranging from a lack of electricity, access roads, water, and functional schools in almost all the villages. He noted that the minds of the young have been brutalised even as the majority of the people live in squalor amid the opulence of their leaders.

He added that, therefore, the agitation for Ogoja state was not rooted in malice.

“It is made in good faith. Our ancestors, when they promulgated the Constitution, realised beforehand that a time like this would come. They knew that the conditions in our country would compel communities to make demands of the type that we now make, so they made provisions in the Constitution which you, Honourable Representatives of the people, have come to implement and give effect to.

“This request is made in exercise of a right vested in the people by the Constitution. The exercise of state creation will forever go on until every community is able to take its own affairs into its own hands.

“Our greatest resources are the people, not oil, minerals, or agricultural produce. We are an intelligent, resourceful, resilient, hardworking, and God-fearing people. We are humble and honest. It is such a people that present this memorandum to you,” he said.

Justice Eneji, Johnny Agim, Cletus Obun, and Lawrence Alobi decried the injustice against Ogoja people, whom they claimed have been denied a state for over 50 years.

In the same vein, Solomon Ekam and Achi Bekomsom noted that the people of old Ogoja Province, comprising Yala, Ogoja, Bekwarra, Obudu, Obanliku, Boki, Ikom, and Etung, have consistently lamented injustice done to them and demanded equity, fairness, and inclusion into the nation’s scheme of things. 

(NAN)