“Stop the Stateocide” — A Reflection
I am Anioma — a people, a promise, a pulse of Nigeria waiting to breathe freely.
For decades, we have tilled the soil of unity, fed the dreams of others, and built bridges across rivers that bear our names. Yet, each time we rise to claim our own identity, hands unseen pull us down into silence.
They call it politics. I call it Stateocide — the slow strangulation of a people’s right to self-definition.
It is not the shedding of blood, but the bleeding of hope.
Not the fall of walls, but the quiet burial of dreams beneath the noise of denial.
We are not asking to secede; we are asking to stand — to stand where destiny placed us, to thrive under a name that is ours.
Our land is rich, our minds resilient, our will unbroken. We have contributed our quota to the making of Nigeria; we now seek our portion in the map of nationhood.
To deny Anioma is to rewrite history with arrogance;
to delay Anioma is to offend the memory of our forefathers who await our coronation in the hall of states.
Let it be said that we protested not with weapons, but with words —
not with violence, but with vision.
Stop the Stateocide.
Let Anioma breathe.
Let her light shine in the family of Nigeria’s federating units.
For when Anioma rises, Nigeria stands stronger —
and justice finds her voice again.
Prof. Julie N.E. Umukoro