A Bishop of the Methodist Church, Dr. Sunday Onuoha, says the inclusion of state of origin biodata in Nigeria is one of the stumbling blocks to national cohesion and development.
Onuoha, who is a co-chair of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP), therefore called for the abolition of the state of origin to stop hatred, disunity, and agitations among people of the federating units.
He made the call at the inauguration of IDFP in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
“I have a strong suggestion that Nigeria must remove state of origin from our biodata. If Nigeria can surmount this challenge, the country will cease to be divided among religious, ethnic and political line.
“State of origin is a violation. And if you are talking about one Nigeria, why do you want me to write my state of origin?
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“People who came to Abia, their grandmothers came to Abia and their mothers were born in Abia, and they were born in Abia and you ask them their state of origin and you want them to write Zamfara.
“It is a lie because their state of origin is Abia. Your state of origin is where you were born. If you want me to declare my state of birth, it is okay. I’m a bonafide citizen of this country; I should be able to live where I want.
“ In America, nobody asks you your state of origin because it is an aberration. You move to Arkansas, you can run for Senate from there. You move to Louisiana, you can run for Senate from there.
“So, if we want to build one country, state of origin should be moved. We thought that we need to do more, not only in the crisis-prone states, but identify states that may appear as if there is no crisis, but something may be brewing and you may not know, to identify it before it happens.”
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