10, July 226
The Ethiope State Creation Committee has publicly condemned Senator Ede Dafinone, the lawmaker representing Delta Central, over what it describes as a betrayal of the Urhobo people’s agitation for a new state.
In a 38-point statement released and signed by three of its principal officers — Chairman Chief Dr. Ominimini Christopher Obiuwevbi, Secretary Engr. Chief Anthony Ochuko Onyokoko, and Publicity Secretary Dr. Wilson Omene, the committee accused the senator of abandoning the push for Ethiope State and instead backing the creation of Anioma State.
The committee said it had exercised extreme patience with the senator, but that patience has now ended.
> _“That season is over. The Urhobo people are owed the truth — not the version Senator Dafinone has been carefully constructing in the national press, but the real truth.”_
They argued that as the most senior Urhobo elected official at the federal level, Senator Dafinone was the natural person to lead the legislative campaign for state creation in the National Assembly.
The committee claimed it did all the groundwork for the senator.
According to them, the Chairman and Dr. Omene personally visited his Abuja office with a detailed executive summary: The document, they said, covered all constitutional requirements for creating a new state: land size, population, economic viability, and existing infrastructure.
> _“We did not go empty-handed. We did his homework. We placed it all in his hands and said: here is the work, here is the mandate, now lead.”_
Despite this, the committee alleged the senator took no legislative action: no bill was sponsored, no motion moved, no inquiry sent to the Constitution Review Committee, and no engagement with Senate leadership or the Presidency.
They also said he made no financial contribution to the cause.
> _“Senator Ede Dafinone produced zero legislative output for Ethiope State. Zero. That is not a performance gap. That is betrayal — cold, sustained, and documented.”_
The most serious accusation is that while the committee was still carrying out consultations at the senator’s request, he secretly signed a document supporting Anioma State — a rival state creation bid led by Delta North Senator Ned Nwoko.
The committee said this happened while its members were still on the field, mobilizing support for Ethiope State in his name.
According to the statement, When confronted by Dr. Omene with social media evidence, the committee alleges the senator admitted it.
His stated reason, according to the committee, “If Anioma becomes a state, Urhobo would be the majority in the remaining Delta and would therefore always produce the governor”
The committee dismissed this as _“breathtakingly shallow and constitutionally flawed,”_ arguing that a senator on the Constitution Review Committee should know that winning a governorship requires the highest votes and at least 25% in two-thirds of LGAs.
They claimed to have posed a direct question:
> _“What exactly did you receive, from whom, and when, in exchange for your endorsement of Anioma State? Because the explanation you gave does not hold up to ten minutes of constitutional scrutiny.”_
The statement states that Senator Dafinone had claimed he was responsible for changing the name from “Urhobo State” to “Ethiope State” to make it more acceptable nationally.
The committee rejected his claim stating the name was decided internally, following advice from Ambassador Chief Dr. Omodoro Adeseye-Ogunlewe, Chair of the Diaspora Committee based on her husband advice from his view that an ethnic name could face resistance at the federal level.
“Senator Dafinone was not in that room. He did not propose the name… To claim credit for the intellectual and strategic work of a committee you refused to support is not statesmanship. It is something far less.”_ the committee report stated.
The committee praised Hon. Benedict Etanabene, who represents Uvwie, Okpe and Sapele, for moving the Ethiope State bill in the House of Representatives through first reading, second reading, and a public hearing in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
In contrast, they said Senator Dafinone only attended the South-South Zonal Public Hearing after being called upon by the Chairman, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere.
“We made quiet enquiries afterwards and what we found was simple: he came for a photograph… in over three years produced not a single formal legislative action for Ethiope State.”_ they claimed.
Responding to the senator’s claim that the movement was an APC affair, the committee listed non-partisan religious leaders involved: Bishop Blessing Erifeta, Bishop Dr. Harriton Akpodiete, and Most Reverend Dr. Isaac Obie.
It also cited its January 17, 2025 town hall in Ughelli, which drew over 1,000 Urhobos from all LGAs and political parties, with support from lawmakers and council chairmen in both APC and PDP.
The committee claimed Senator Dafinone was invited to that town hall but neither attended, sent a representative, nor sent a solidarity message.
According to the committee report, it explained that its dealings with the state Governor, Sheriff Oberevwori were kept private with the excuse that if a sitting governor is seen publicly pushing for the breakup of the very state he was elected to lead, it would put him at serious political and constitutional risk.
It also criticized him for publicly endorsing Anioma while now asking the committee to be “discreet.”
The committee concluded that Senator Dafinone lacked the courage, legislative discipline, constitutional knowledge, and commitment to the Urhobo cause that the moment required.
“He was handed the blueprint. He was given the mandate. He signed for Anioma. He attended our public hearing for a photograph. And then he wrote an article claiming to be the architect of a movement he betrayed.”_ they claimed.
The group said it will continue to pursue Ethiope State peacefully and democratically, and urged all Urhobo people to hold their representatives accountable.
It ended with a direct challenge to the senator:
_“If anything remains of the mandate the Urhobo people placed in your hands, use it. File the bill in the Senate. Move the motion. Make one meaningful contribution. Just once, for them. The creation of Ethiope State will happen with you or without you. But history will record exactly where you stood.”_
