The National Secretary of the Ethiope State Creation Committee, Chief Anthony Ochuko Onyokoko, has exonerated Senator Ede Dafinone from allegations of working against the agitation for the creation of Ethiope State, declaring that the senator’s position should not be twisted into opposition to the Urhobo state-creation quest.
Onyokoko made the clarification on Saturday at a press conference in Isiokolo, headquarters of Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, where he was joined by other leaders and members of Grassroots Marshall for Good Governance.
Onyokoko, who is also Patron and Founder of Grassroots Marshall for Good Governance in Delta State, said his intervention was necessary to disassociate himself from personal and partisan attacks against Dafinone, stressing that while the Ethiope State Creation Committee had the right to officially clarify issues concerning the agitation, such institutional responses should not be turned into political attacks against the Delta Central Senator.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I stand by the right of the Committee to clarify issues and put the record straight. However, that official response must not be confused with subsequent political exchanges or personal attacks against the Senator on social media,” Onyokoko said.
“It is those attacks, particularly where they become personal or partisan, that gives me cause for concern.”
The clarification is significant against the background of recent controversy over Dafinone’s position on the creation of new states in Delta State. While the senator had previously expressed support for the creation of Anioma State, available public reports also show that he subsequently and unequivocally backed the creation of Ethiope State.
At the House of Representatives Committee on Constitutional Review public hearing in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in July 2025, Dafinone publicly argued that the creation of Ethiope State would correct historical imbalances, empower the Urhobo Nation and create new opportunities for economic and social development.
Dafinone also subsequently published a detailed position on the creation of a new state in Delta Central, describing the agitation for a new Urhobo state as a legitimate and strategic quest capable of bringing governance closer to the people, improving representation and promoting socio-economic development.
Onyokoko’s intervention therefore sought to draw a distinction between legitimate disagreement over the senator’s earlier position on Anioma State and the allegation that such a position amounted to opposition to Ethiope State.
He maintained that questioning the senator’s actions was legitimate, but warned against allowing political disagreements to degenerate into personal attacks.
“We may question his actions, disagree with it, seek explanations and place our position before the public. But we must distinguish between holding our Senator accountable and turning disagreement into personal or partisan political attacks,” he said.
According to him, the Urhobo people could disagree with Dafinone on particular issues without portraying him as an opponent of the Ethiope State project.
He also rejected the suggestion that the Ethiope State Creation Committee could legitimately demand a public apology from Dafinone on behalf of the entire Urhobo Nation.
“Disagreement over this matter does not, in my view, give the Committee the mandate to demand a public apology from Senator Ede Dafinone on behalf of the entire Urhobo nation,” Onyokoko said.
“The Urhobo nation is larger than any individual or committee. Unless there is a clear collective mandate, we should be careful about speaking in the name of the entire nation.”
The committee secretary stressed that Dafinone remained the duly elected senator representing Delta Central and could be an important stakeholder in the legislative and political processes required to advance the state-creation proposal.
“Senator Ede Dafinone remains the duly elected Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District. At this critical stage of our agitation, we may still require his legislative engagement and cooperation,” he said.
“We may disagree without becoming enemies. We may criticise without insulting. We may correct without denigrating.”
Onyokoko further appealed to the Chairman of the Ethiope State Creation Committee, Chief Dr Christopher Ominimini Obiuwevbi, and other stakeholders in the movement to exercise restraint in their public exchanges.
He insisted that the state-creation movement was conceived as a non-partisan initiative that should accommodate Urhobos across political parties, traditional institutions, religious organisations, professional groups and community associations.
“Ethiope State must remain above individual political contest. Political parties and alliances may change, but our identity as Urhobo people and our aspiration for Ethiope State remain our common responsibility,” he said.
Responding to questions from journalists on allegations that the committee had become a political platform targeting a particular senatorial aspirant, Onyokoko rejected the claim, maintaining that the committee comprised people with different political affiliations and backgrounds.
“The committee is non-partisan,” he said. “There are people from different political parties, people from different religious groups. We have bishops there; we have kings. All of them want to have a state.”
He explained that differing opinions existed among Urhobo stakeholders on the implications of the proposed Anioma State and the preferred configuration of any new state, but maintained that such differences should not be allowed to undermine the larger objective.
Onyokoko also disclosed that members of the committee had met with Dafinone in Abuja in the course of their engagements on issues concerning the Urhobo people and state creation.
According to him, the Abuja engagement involved senior members of the committee, including Dr Wilson Omene, Chief Dr Christopher Ominimini Obiuwevbi and Chief Evans, while he was not personally part of that particular delegation.
He said the feedback from the meeting was positive and that the current controversy should not be allowed to erase the need for continued engagement among Urhobo stakeholders.
“What is bringing these issues is not whether it was fruitful or not,” Onyokoko said, adding that the state-creation process required the cooperation of political leaders and other stakeholders.
He stressed that the fact that Dafinone had previously supported the Anioma State agitation should not automatically be interpreted as opposition to the creation of Ethiope State.
The committee secretary also acknowledged that different stakeholders could legitimately hold different views about the configuration of new states, saying such differences were part of the wider national debate on state creation.
He noted that Dafinone’s public support for Ethiope State was already on record, making it unnecessary, in his view, for the senator to be subjected to personal attacks over his earlier position on Anioma.
Onyokoko invoked the history surrounding the creation of Delta State in 1991, particularly the eventual location of the state capital in Asaba, as a lesson on the consequences of division among political and ethnic stakeholders.
“If we have to learn from history, we have to, at this point in time, if there was any criticism before, they should put an end to it,” he said.
He argued that the proposed Ethiope State would require extensive consultation, legislative engagement, consensus-building and political cooperation, making it counterproductive to alienate elected representatives who could contribute to the process.
“We need the Senator, we need the religious people, we need the leaders, we need everybody. We even need the opposition in this agitation for Ethiope State,” he said.
On the suggestion that the chairman of the committee should resign because of his political ambition, Onyokoko said the organisation was a voluntary body and did not operate under a constitution containing such a provision.
He explained that the movement had grown from an initial group of stakeholders into a wider network involving traditional rulers, political actors, professionals and Urhobos in the diaspora.
Onyokoko nevertheless acknowledged the need to maintain the non-partisan character of the state-creation campaign regardless of the individual political interests of its members.
“My concern is that if we continue like this, we may have problems in achieving this our aspiration,” he said.
He urged political actors to pursue their individual ambitions without allowing electoral contests to contaminate the collective demand for Ethiope State.
“Let everybody concentrate to campaign for his own political position that he is aspiring for,” he said.
Concluding his address, Onyokoko formally restated his position that he did not endorse personal or partisan attacks against Dafinone and that the senator should not be portrayed as an enemy of the Ethiope State project merely because of disagreements surrounding the wider state-creation debate.
“I stand by the right of the Committee to respond officially to issues raised about it. But I do not endorse personal or partisan political attacks on Senator Ede Dafinone or indeed any other leader under the banner of the Ethiope State agitation,” he said.
“This is not about taking sides in anybody’s political contest. It is about protecting the unity, integrity and non-partisan character of the Ethiope State Creation movement.”
He urged Urhobo stakeholders to put aside recriminations and focus on building the broad political and legislative consensus necessary to advance the proposed state.
“This is the time for unity, not acrimony; respect, not denigration; and non-partisanship, not rivalry. Ethiope State must come first,” Onyokoko said.
