BY HUGO ODIOGOR

Asaba Development Union, ASDU, has protested the alleged exclusion of Asaba, the capital of Delta State, from the centenary programme of the Federal Government, which is being co-ordinated by the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation.

Vice President-General of ASDU, Mr. Tony Efianya, in a statement in Asaba, said: “The attention of the group has been drawn to the fact that Asaba, which played the same role as Çalabar, Lokoja and Lagos, in the formation of Nigeria, had been by-passed by the committee planning the centenary events, which is a disservice to the people of Asaba and their contribution to the emergence of the Nigerian state.

“We want to put it on record that the activities of the Royal Niger Company, which had a Royal charter to negotiate and make treaties with groups, peoples and entities in the territory called Nigeria, was the genesis of the progressive  colonisation of the geo-political entity called Nigeria.”