Ohanaeze Ndigbo has commended the South-East Governors’ Forum for formally endorsing Anioma as the region’s preferred choice for the proposed sixth state. The organisation described the decision as a landmark step toward historical justice, regional balance and long-awaited Igbo unity across the Niger.
The commendation was issued in a detailed statement on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, by the Forum of Ohanaeze State Presidents. The document was signed by Mazi Chukwuma Okpalaezeukwu; Chief Benjamin C. Igumbor, President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Delta State; Barr. Justice Ọkoha Nze; Barr. Chris Obialor, President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Ebonyi State; Livingstone Wechie, President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Imo State; and the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Rivers State. Together, they expressed strong approval of the governors’ “courage, clarity and patriotism.”
According to the Forum, the endorsement followed a meeting of South-East National Assembly members convened by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu. During the session, governors were consulted individually by phone to present their preferred option among the various state-creation proposals under consideration. After broad consultations and a review of viability factors, Anioma emerged as the consensus choice.
The statement noted that Anioma received two first-choice votes and two second-choice votes—more than its closest rival, ANIM, which secured only one second-choice vote. Other proposals such as Aba State and Adada State were ultimately set aside after the governors evaluated landmass, population, existing infrastructure, access routes, and the economic contributions each proposed state could reasonably bring into the South-East.
The Forum stressed that Anioma’s strong showing was not only a matter of numbers but of historical and socio-cultural significance. Anioma, they pointed out, holds the distinction of being one of the oldest state-creation agitations in Nigeria, dating as far back as 1939. The movement intensified after the tragic October 1967 Asaba massacre, and advocates have long argued that establishing Anioma State would be a symbolic act of healing and recognition for the indigenes of the region.
The governors’ endorsement, Ohanaeze said, also aligns with a broader push for Igbo unification. The group referenced the recent emergence of Senator John Azuta-Mbata, an Ikwerre son, as the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which they described as definitive proof of the Igbo identity of the Ikwerre and other Igbo-speaking communities in Rivers State. By creating Anioma State, they argue, the historic isolation of Anioma people—and the forced de-Igbonisation of communities such as the Igbankes in Edo State—would finally come to an end.
Calling the endorsement “a new dawn for Ndigbo,” the Forum urged Igbo organisations, professionals, business leaders, youth groups and the diaspora community to rally behind the Anioma State project and treat it as a collective responsibility in the interest of justice, unity and regional advancement.