A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Martin Oke, has described Adada State as the most suitable for creation in many ramifications.
Oke, who is representing Igbo Etiti/Uzo Uwani federal constituency of Enugu State, spoke shortly after submitting a complete document requesting for the creation of Adada out of Enugu State to the State Creation committee of the House of Representatives in Abuja on Monday.
Oke had moved the motion for the creation of Adada State out of Enugu State in the House of Representatives last year.
Meanwhile, the Adada State Movement says it has met the constitutional requirements that are needed to be made a State of its own as required by section 8(1) of the 1999 constitution.
A statement signed by Ike Abonyi, Chairman, Publicity/Media Committee of the Movement, said that the 40-page document titled ‘Request For The Creation Of Adada State By Adada State Movement: A Re-submission To The 10th National Assembly’ is signed by its Chairman, Hon. James Ugwu, Secretary, Chief Augustine Alumonah and His Royal Highness Igwe (Dr) Osisi Itodo, the royal leader of the Movement urged the National Assembly to pass an Act creating Adada State out of the present Enugu State and to amend section 3 and any other sections of the 1999 constitution to include Adada State After due processes and protocols.
In addition to the Adada Movement leaders, 144 others required by the constitution, National Assembly Members from the area requesting for the State, members of the State House of Assembly and Chairmen and Councillors of the seven Local Government Areas seeking to be part of the new State all signed the document.
According to the document, the name of the proposed State, Adada, is derived from a River in Uzo Uwani in one of the Local Government Areas within the proposed State, and the proposed capital will be the University town of Nsukka that has been the administrative headquarters of the old Nsukka Province since 1921. The projected population of the proposed state is about three million.
The request for the creation of Adada State is the oldest yet unfulfilled State request in the old Eastern Region. In 1983, precisely on March 16, 1983, the then National Assembly moved a motion in its order Paper calling for the creation of an Adada State. Also under Obasanjo’s Presidency, it was to be created but truncated by the Third Term impasse.
Aside from education which the presence of the first Indigenous University in the country, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) helped to develop, the area is noted for its agricultural activities on account of vast agrarian land. The area also has potential for various mineral deposits.
Senators Okechukwu Ezea and Kelvin Chukwu led four other members of the House of Representatives – Honourables Martin Oke, Denis Agbo, Chidi Obetta and Paul Nnamchi, to submit the report to the Speaker House of Representatives, through the House Committee on Constitutional Amendment State Creation Committee.
The Chairman of the Adada State Movement, Hon. James Ugwu, thanked all those who made immense contributions to the constitutional fulfilment as he expressed the hope that the aspirations of the Adada people will be met.
The requirements to be met before a new State can be created are contained in section 8(1)of the 1999 Constitution and specifies that a bill for the creation of a new State must be passed by the two-thirds majority of both the Senate and the House of Representatives and approved by a simple majority of the State House of Assembly of the State from which the new State is to be created and a Presidential assent to the bill. There will also be a referendum to be conducted in the affected areas to determine the wishes of the people.
