A community leader in Ebonyi State, Iro Ukpai, has lauded the President, Muhammadu Buhari , for assenting to a Bill that changed the Afikpo South Local Government Area, to Edda LGA, of Ebonyi State, adding that the change means a lot to the people of the area.
According to him, aside from ease of identification, the development will expose the people of the area to the respect and fame hitherto deprived them, in addition to placing the Edda clan on a global world map.
He stated this during a meeting with journalists in Amoso village, Etiti Edda community, in the Afikpo South (now Edda) Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, on Thursday.
He said, “I’m Barrister Iro Ukpai, a community leader from Amoso village, Etiti Edda community, in formerly Afikpo South Local Government Area and now, Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, awaiting to be gazetted.
“The change is long over due and it’s long been expected, and I’m extraordinarily excited and happy to have witnessed this auspicious change happening in our generation. The name, ‘Edda’ had been subsumed under Afikpo Local Government Area and as a very populous clan, the Edda people are the most homogenous people in Ebonyi State and beyond. Therefore, calling it Afikpo South means you have to navigate through Afikpo to arrive at Edda even at the point of introduction.
“When Gen. Babangida created the LGA and gave it Afikpo South as its name, a good number of us didn’t quite appreciate that move, but because we needed a local government, we were happy that it was given to us.
“Now that it has been changed from Afikpo South to Edda LGA, we are happy and we thank His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari for making it possible and assenting to the bill that changed the name from Afikpo South to Edda LGA.
“The implication of this name change from Afikpo South to Edda LGA is whenever you are called and ask where are you from, you will be bold to say I’m from Edda. It’s also going to make those who didn’t know Edda to know Edda. The people will straightly navigate to Edda. And if our documents and records are changed from Afikpo South to Edda LGA in that constitutional amendment, it means Edda is going to become a household name in Ebonyi, in the South-East geo-political zone and in Nigeria. And so, the people are happy about it because their records, documents and easy of identification and location wouldn’t be through Afikpo again.
“In those days, when they asked where are you from? You said Edda-you have to take back that introduction to Afikpo to start telling where you are from to enable the people identify you. So, the identity of an Edda man is going to be bold, it’s going to be noticable and known to the whole world.
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