However, in the ongoing nationwide constitutional review program, the President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Hon. Jonathan Asake, who defended the memo of Southern Kaduna people said: “The wish of Southern Kaduna is to have a brand new constitution, not an amended one,” he said.

“But in the absence of that, we are here to make our inputs as a people who have suffered suppression and oppression for a long time,” he said.

“Southern Kaduna is made up of 67 ethnic nationalities spread in 13 of the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna state. It has a landmass of 26,000kmsq with an estimated population of 5.1 million. We are endowed with an educated population and with abundant natural resources,” he said.

“Our land size is greater than that of Kano state which has a landmass of 20,000kmsq. Yet Kano is a state of its own with 44 LGAs. Our population is greater than 21 other states of the federation,” he went on. “We are demanding for the amendment of the provision of section 8 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which makes it almost an impossible task for the creation of a new state,” he insisted.

“We have been demanding for a state of our own for over thirty years and Gurara state was among the 18 states proposed in the 2014 Confab report,” he said.

“We are demanding for the creation of the Gurara state after the amendment. This will help in solving the incessant conflicts between our people and the other divide,” he said.