By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

Nine States are marking the twentieth anniversary of existence this week. The states were created with military fiat by the Ibrahim Babangida military regime. Children born at that time are today turning into maturity, but for many of the twenty year old states it is a mixed blessing. Many are still dependent on breast milk otherwise known as federal allocation.

It was on the eve of his sixth anniversary of his successful  coup d’état on August 26, 1991 that President Ibrahim Babangida announced the creation of nine new states. Thought it was a military regime that governed with military fiat, the proclamation of the nine new states was, however, heralded by high level underhand politicking.

Though the Armed Forces Ruling Council, AFRC was the highest decision making body of the country at that time, the decision on the creation of the nine states it was believed went beyond a number of the members of the council.

The influence of royal fathers, wives of principal officers of the administration and top level officers of that administration reportedly influenced the configuration and decision on the capital of the new states.

The nine new States that were created were: Edo, Kebbi, Anambra,Enugu,Taraba, Kogi,Osun, Jigawa and
Delta.

One of the most controversial decisions was that of the creation of Delta State. Whereas elites of the former Delta province had for years been agitating for the creation of a Delta State to be carved out of Bendel, General Babangida lived up to his nickname as Maradona when he announced the creation of Delta State.

Inside players

But the outline of the new state was a shock to all but a handful of the inside players of that regime as Delta province was joined with the Anioma region in the new state. Even more upsetting for the agitators from  Delta province was the decision of the authorities to site the capital of the new state in Asaba, on the fringes of the new state.

Barrister Fred Agbeyegbe, who was at that time the secretary of the Movement for the Creation of Delta State was attending the annual conference of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA in Owerri when the announcement was made. As tension rose in the new state a prominent businessman from Asaba and a traditional ruler from that town sent for Agbeyegbe to help douse tension.

“I spent a week, after that in Sunny Odogwu’s house in Asaba because they were expecting so much trouble. They thought the Urhobos would go haywire, they thought people would not accept the creation of the state and I was called upon to come and do some fire-brigade work. Then, we had a meeting during the period I was in Asaba cooling tempers,” Agbeyegbe told Vanguard.

The news of the creation was, however, received with mixed joy in a number of other states on account of expected traditional ethnic rivalry.

Kogi State was one. The State was carved out from the old Kwara and Benue States. The Okuns and Igbiras from the old Kwara State were joined with the Igalas from the old Benue State to form the new Kogi State.

Whereas the Igalas were minority players in the old Benue where they ranked third, they immediately jumpstarted to become the power player in the new Kogi State.

The citing of the capital in Lokoja was, however, without much controversy given the historical position of the town as the first capital of Nigeria.

Controversy, however, shadowed the citing of the capital in some of the other new states. In Jigawa the decision to cite the capital in the ancient and largely undeveloped Dutse shocked many. It was later it emerged that an influential player in the regime was from that village. It is reflective of that decision that until recently most of the top players in Jigawa State maintained their accommodation in Kano which is more than 90 minutes drive from Dutse.

Edo State was, however, an exception. Reverence for the Oba of Benin was a unifying factor in playing down rivalry in the new Edo State and there was no controversy over the composition of the ethnic groups in the state.

Whereas children born twenty years ago are weaned from breast milk and are today finding their feet and making decisive decisions of life, it is not so for many of the states.

Many of the states created twenty years ago are still dependent on federal allocation for survival, like adults pandering after breast milk!