Chief Dennis Osadebey was the first and only Premier of the Mid-Western Region, which combined Delta and Edo States of Nigeria. He pioneered the aspirations of the creation of Anioma state and brought national attention to the political and cultural needs of the Mid-Western Region. He coined the name “Anioma”; an acronym representing the people of Aniocha, Ndokwa, Ika, and Oshimili; as a unifying identity for the region. His advocacy laid the intellectual and political groundwork for subsequent calls for a separate Anioma State. Osadebey also was the second Senate President of Nigeria and served from 1960 to 1963, during Nigeria’s first republic. Today, Osadebey is celebrated as the father of Anioma state consciousness, a figure whose vision helped define the modern identity of the Anioma people.