THE creation of more states is   the central issue to be articulated by all south eastern states in the course of the forthcoming review of the 1999 constitution, the deputy speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Chinedum Elechi, has said.

Expressing confidence in the determination of the National Assembly to push through the current effort in constitution review, Elechi, in an interview, nevertheless, called for patience from all in the polity ahead of the constitution review exercise which, he said, cannot be described as a tea party.

He said: “The issue that concerns us in Abia State is the issue of states creation which is also the issue that is paramount in the mind of the people of the Southeast where I come from,” he said on the fringes of the recent Senate retreat on constitution review held in Kaduna.

Definitely, we are going to put up the issue of the creation of an additional state while we look at other issues that affect generally to the nation. We from Abia State and the Southeast, the agitation is clear, we are going to come up with the issue of states creation.”

Reiterating the interests of the south east geopolitical zone, he said: “From what has been on ground, what I think is coming to the front burner is states creation. You can feel it in the air.” A secondary issue of interest to the zone, according to him, would be the adoption of true federalism in the country.

“When the chips are down, the issue of true federalism will come up and people will take a closer look on how to achieve the practice of true federalism and I suspect issues of secularity and religion may come up for close attention,” he added.