The ongoing demand for the creation of another state out of the present Akwa Ibom is gradually heating the polity and tends to disrupt the present unity and peace in the state.
While people have the right to express their aspirations and desires for self-determination and possibly state creation, they should not distort the history and heritage of the people of the state or work against the labour of our heroes past.
According to records, the people who constitute the present geographical Akwa Ibom State were the very first Nigerians to demand state creation.
Through the Ibibio Union, all sections of the present Akwa Ibom State were brought together on a journey for the demand of a homeland, which was eventually created on September 23, 1987.
It was the vision of the Ibibio State Union that all sections of the state, as a people united in one destiny, should live in peace in a united homeland which is today’s Akwa Ibom State.
Imbued with wisdom, foresight and knowledge, the Ibibio Union had, as far back as 1928, laid out a development plan that not only harped on unity but also human capital development of the people through education as the key to the future in the Nigeria that was to be. Without any iota of discrimination or segregation, the union gave scholarships and sent sons of the state overseas for studies, knowing how effective they would be in the Nigeria that was evolving.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo was deeply impressed by the development strides and unity programme of the Ibibio Union, such that he openly called on Yorubas to emulate the union. In his self-titled book “Awo,” published in 1960, Awolowo said, “But whilst there was an Ibibio Union … there was no comparable all-embracing union for the Yorubas.” Awolowo learned from the Ibibio Union and was therefore able to unite his Yoruba kinsmen.
Thereafter, through visionary and purposeful leadership, the Ibibio Union led the people through various evolutions of state creation from Cross River State to the present Akwa Ibom State.
It should be stated emphatically here that Akwa Ibom State is the final destination of the dreams of our forebears and the eternal homeland that the people have struggled for over the years to attain. It is, therefore, preposterous for some people to again think of dividing the unity of the Akwa Ibom State through agitation for the creation of another state out of the present one. It would amount to the balkanization of Akwa Ibom State.
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Those agitating are so far doing it out of ethnicism and using dialects as a distraction. Akwa Ibom is one of the most homogenous states in Nigeria, with Ibibio as the sole language and dozens of dialects as subsidiaries.
Unfortunately, detractors have always tended to weaponise the dialects to create divisions and segregation. Out of desperation to destroy the unity, the detractors now define every dialect as a distinct ethnic group, which is far from it. A dialect cannot constitute an ethnic group but only remains a subset of a main language.
Through divine guidance and intervention, Akwa Ibom has remained a united state in spite of some political jobbers and self-seeking elite doing all within their powers to whip up sentiments that would drive a wedge among sections of the state. As already said, they have always played up the politics of dialectical differences as excuses to demand state creation.
There was a time when such persons agitated that news translation should be done in all dialects of the state. It was such a disgusting and repulsive experience, and the idea had to be jettisoned as quickly as it came.
Those are the same persons sleeplessly demanding the balkanization of Akwa Ibom State and the creation of a new state without due consideration to the necessary determinants and factors. Agitations for state creation by such persons are fast turning into a farce and triviality, such that every community in disaffection with its neighbours would want to have a state of its own.
One of the reasons given by those demanding a state out of Akwa Ibom is that the Ibibios have dominated and frustrated them. That is far from the truth because every administration in the state has always endeavoured to work with all sections.
Development is fast spreading to all parts of Akwa Ibom State, and no section is deliberately left out: today, Governor Umo Eno, like his predecessors, is taking development to all nooks and crannies, especially to the rural areas. Today, Akwa Ibom is adjudged one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria.
Therefore, those seeking to break up the state would only be working against the peace, harmony and unity that Governor Eno is building in Akwa Ibom State.
Surely, Akwa Ibom State needs no balkanization.
