Renowned transport magnate and business leader, Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke, popularly known as GUO, has revealed how he led a powerful resistance in 1991 that thwarted the military government’s plan to excise Onitsha from Anambra State and merge it with Asaba to form a proposed Anioma State.
Chief Okeke, who disclosed the historic event during his 76th birthday celebration, recounted what he described as a “silent coup” led by Onitsha’s business elite to stop then military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, from implementing the plan.
According to Okeke, the plot was exposed by the late Senator Chuba Okadigbo, who summoned a confidential meeting in Awka, warning of an imminent announcement to incorporate Onitsha into Anioma State with Asaba as its capital.
He said the move was allegedly influenced by pressures from Warri and Sapele communities who opposed Asaba as Delta State’s capital, as well as President Babangida’s desire to honour his wife, Maryam, an indigene of Asaba.
“In that meeting, we were informed that Babangida would soon make the announcement during a visit to the area.
” We knew we had to act fast. As leader of Onitsha traders then, we resolved that we couldn’t cross the River Niger to join Asaba. Traders owned 98 percent of the investments in Onitsha and Ogbaru. The River Niger was our natural boundary,” Okeke recalled.
A coordinated protest was swiftly organized. Traditional rulers were dispatched to Abuja to lobby the presidency, while back home, a massive demonstration and total city lockdown were enforced.
Okeke himself was placed under house arrest after the plan leaked overnight.
Despite the security siege, protesters mobilized across Onitsha, blocking all access roads and the Niger Bridge by dawn.
“The protesters were chanting, ‘We no go gree! We are not going to Anioma!’ It was highly organized,” he said.
President Babangida, who initially planned to fly into Asaba via Benin, altered his route and arrived by road through Enugu, stopping at Onitsha where the protests had paralyzed movement.
Okeke said security officials pleaded with him to calm the protesters.
“When Babangida arrived, I told him to speak to the crowd himself because they wouldn’t believe me otherwise. He took a megaphone and assured them that the plan had been cancelled. There was wild jubilation,” he narrated.
Remarkably, Okeke added, the emissaries sent to Abuja had not even reached Okene in Kogi State by the time the president made the announcement that Onitsha would remain part of Anambra State.
“That’s how we saved Onitsha from being lost to Delta. It was a big risk,” Okeke said.
The businessman lamented that despite his sacrifices, he later became the target of political persecution, including false allegations, arson, and detention.
“They said I had become too powerful. I was even falsely accused of setting the Onitsha market on fire and detained for five weeks before I was cleared,” he added.
