By Steve Oko, Aba

A new state has been proposed from Abia, Rivers and Imo State.

Proponents of the new state called ENOA say its creation will fast-track development in Abia /Rivers corridor considering the rich oil deposit in the region.

Coordinator of ENOA State Movement Associate Professor Onwubiko Dike, told newsmen in Aba that the viability of the proposed state plus the cultural affinity among the people had made its creation necessary.

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His words: “ENOA State is a very viable state which has 220 functional oil Wells and 90 capped oil Wells.

“The place is fertile, we have palms and we have tourist attractions.

“There is just nothing that one should be afraid of in creating the state and that is why we are asking for ENOA State”, he said.

He also cited marginalisation of the affected clans by their current states as reason for the agitation for the new state.

On how they arrived at the name for the proposed state, he said “ENOA is an acronym derived from the five areas or clans demanding for the state.”

He said the letters of the acronym were taken from the initials of the areas forming the state which includes Etche, Ndoki, Obigbo, Omuma and Asa.

He said the people of the new state he common descent and were together under Ahoada and later Obehie magisterial districts before they were scattered by state creation.

“Before this time, all of us had one common place, Obehie, that hosted our Magistrate Court.

“Everybody was assembling there including those of them in Rivers State, Omuma and Etche.

“We have everything in common. The dialect is the same thing, our mode of dressing, and everything because of our common cultural ancestry.

“With this 1999 Constitution review, and state creation in it, we chose this opportunity which we had sought for all this time because we are now minorities in all the states where they put us.

“In Abia, we are minority, in Akwa Ibom, we are a minority, in Rivers State, we are a minority and this has not helped us politically and in terms of development, we are disadvantaged”, he said.