New states no longer possible —Reps

dampened the hope of campaigners for new states as it said the current National Assembly would not be able to create states.

Giving the position of the House, the Speaker, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, explained that the legislature had limited time to go through the rigours of creating states before the expiration of its tenure in 2011.

The current legislature has less than six months to the end of its tenure on June 22 next year. Bankole gave the position of the House as a delegation of elders from Edo, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Ondo states visited the National Assembly to express opposition to the demand for the creation of Toru-Ebe State.

Those opposing the creation of the state are Bini, Ibibio, Itsekiri and Ilaje ethnic nationalities.

The Majority Leader of the House, Mr. Tunde Akogun, who received a petition from the delegation on behalf of Bankole, said that due to time factor, the present set of lawmakers would simply pass over all demands for new states to the next legislature.

Incidentally, there are over 42 memoranda on the creation of new states before the National Assembly.

Principal officers of both the Senate and the House have always assured visiting groups that new states will be created during the current tenure.

But delivering Bankole’s message to the protesters on Tuesday, Akogun, who is from Edo State, said, “The time available to us now is too small; the only thing to do is to warehouse all the demands for new states for the next National Assembly to work on.

“We are going to have it on record that you were here. And your demand (not to create Toru-Ebe State) will be looked into by the incoming members of the National Assembly.”

The Ijaw National Foundation had earlier submitted a memorandum, demanding the creation of an Ijaw state (Toru-Ebe State) to accommodate people of the ethnic nationality living in the coastal communities of the Niger Delta.

But those opposed to the creation of the state said on Tuesday that the Ijaw were planning to seize their own ancestral land in the quest to have a state of their own.

They described the move of the Ijaw as ‘betrayal of trust,’ saying they failed to consult with other groups in the coastal areas before embarking on the project.

The leader of the delegation, Chief D.O Idabie, had accused the Ijaw of disregarding other ethnic nationalities in the region.

He informed the House that despite receiving support from other groups over their causes, the Ijaw did not consult them when they began the campaign for the new state.