Apa State creation: Document shows Lami’s name was omitted from draft submitted to constitution review committee

Fresh facts have emerged over the controversy surrounding the ongoing agitation for the creation of Apa State.

IDOMA VOICE reports that there are ongoing clamours across the country for the creation of additional states.

The people of Benue South have been agitating for the creation of Apa State from present day Benue State.

This is just as the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro (Benue South), has sent a draft for the creation of Apa State to the constitution review committee to that effect.

Moro made this known recently during a recent virtual meeting with Idomas in the diaspora.
Speaking during the meeting monitored by IDOMA VOICE, Abba said the draft got the endorsement of the nine local government chairmen in the senatorial district and ⅔ of members of the Benue State House of Assembly.

He, however, lamented that the Benue State Deputy Speaker, who represents Ado State Constituency, Danladi Lami Ogenyi, refused to sign “for reasons best known to her.”

Lami has since denied the allegation, saying Senator Moro has been avoiding her calls and attempts to form synergy with him for the greater good of Idoma land.

However, findings by our reporter have shown that Lami was not properly briefed on the draft forwarded to her.

IDOMA VOICE also observed that Lami’s name was conspicuously missing from the draft submitted to the the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), 1999 (as amended) by the Benue South Peace and Unity Forum led by former Chief of Defence Intelligence, AVM, Monday Riku Morgan.

The memo sighted by IDOMA VOICE shows that Lami’s name was not included:
Moro, Philip Agbese, Blessing Onuh, Ojotu Ojema, Agada Awuchi’s and other names were on the list, but Lami was omitted.

It was observed that one Francis Ijiga, who is the Secretary, Benue South Peace and Unity Forum, had on June 30, 2024, contacted Lami via WhatsApp to “Please go through the memo above, snap your signature specimen and send it to me through this WhatsApp number to enable us use it on the original hard copy to be submitted in Abuja tomorrow. Thanks for your cooperation.”

However, Lami was shocked that someone could just stroll into her inbox and ask her to send her signature without proper introduction of the subject matter.

A source close to the Deputy Speaker described the action as disrespectful.

The source who pleaded anonymity said, “Who does that? In this era where Yahoo Yahoo people are on the prowl, you will ask a Deputy Speaker to send her signature just like that. She was right to have ignored the sender of that message.

“What stops the coordinator from contacting her in the first place. As a matter of fact, her name was not among the people who co-signed the document. You didn’t regard her office and you want her signature. Impossible. This is pure blackmail. We need to drop sentiment, we all need Apa State but it won’t come through this cheap blackmail.”