By Prince Anthony Vewhan Oru
It is appropriate to begin this intervention by thanking the Ukoko R’ Ivie R’ Urhobo which is the Urhobo Traditional Rulers Forum for the commendable roles it has played in stabilizing the Urhobo nation in the last ten years or so. Kingship is divine and spiritual and other mortals are duty-bound to heed the counsel of the king. By their sheer approximation of divinity, kings belong to a realm that is almost sacerdotal. They are king-priests who mediate among the gods, spirits and men. The level of veneration that goes with kingship enabled the Urhobo to say “evwie ovie ga” interpreted to mean a king is born to be served. It is in the realization of the role of the kings that they have had to of necessity intervene in the affairs of the Urhobo nation at critical points and turns. One of the instances of their most recent intervention was the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) leadership crisis orchestrated by Chief Joe Omene of Mosogar. For some years, Omene was bent on ridiculing the UPU, but the majority of the Urhobo people who abhor deviant behaviours rejected Omene’s disreputable antics. The kings under the auspices of Ukoko R’ Ivie R’ Urhobo had to intervene as the real custodian of the essence of the Urhobo ideal. The kings acted in one accord and removed Omene. The kings then worked with different stakeholders and brought on board a new leadership under Chief Moses Taiga. The rest they say is history.
History and exigency are once again beckoning on Urhobo kings to intervene in the ongoing process aimed at producing a Delta State Governor of Delta Central (Urhobo) extraction. The word is out and settled that it is the turn of the Urhobo to produce the next Governor of the State going by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rotational cum zoning arrangement. The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) has acted within its mandate of projecting and protecting Urhobo interests by endorsing a world-class technocrat-politician in the person of Olorogun David Edevbie as the Urhobo choice on the PDP platform. Laudable and well-received as the UPU choice is, some mischievous Urhobo politicians have chosen to fight the UPU and ask it to reverse itself. This act which borders on taboo is largely perpetrated by the eight Local Government Chairmen of Delta Central, a group that calls itself Delta Central PDP leaders and elders and one disgruntled element who parades himself as the UPU National Legal Adviser.
This intervention is a clarion call to our kings to rally around the UPU’s choice and call the deviants disclaiming UPU’s action to order. If those opposing and castigating the UPU will not respect what Urhobo stands for, they should at least listen to our kings in their position as divine and spiritual heads of the Urhobo nation. That is why it has become compelling for the kings to come together now and reaffirm the position of the UPU the way they did in rescuing the organization some five years ago. The time is now for the kings to call these politicians expressing dissenting views to order. They must not be allowed to derail the Urhobo nation. The UPU has spoken and that should be taken as URHOBOTANURE. No more, no less.
Our kings have been working day and night visiting their counterparts from other ethnic nationalities and building alliances to evolve a consensus and support for a Delta State Governor of Urhobo extraction come 2023. The efforts of our kings must not be in vain. The efforts of our kings must bring out the best in Urhobo. Our kings have had an excellent working relationship with the UPU these five years. That relationship must be consolidated now in the best interest of the Urhobo nation and Delta State. Besides working with the UPU our kings have shown themselves as worthy stakeholders in the Urhobo Governorship project. Our kings have traversed the length and breadth of Delta State in trying to build a consensus on the issue. What is left for our kings to do is to intervene by throwing their weight behind the UPU endorsement of David Edevbie. The dissenters trying to disorganize the Urhobo nation by countering the UPU all come from different kingdoms. The kings should call them home and caution them to retrace their steps or face severe consequences.
In the countdown to the turn of Delta North to produce the Delta State Governor in 2015, the kings from Delta North led by the respected Asagba of Asaba had to at a point lead the charge insisting that they wanted Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa. The Anioma Congress also endorsed Senator Okowa as the choice of Delta North for Governor. This is what the UPU has done and it is time for the kings to do the same thing and let Urhobo work together and look forward to 2023 as one indivisible entity.
Our revered kings should act now in the best interest of the Urhobo nation. The dissenting voices have an agenda scripted by paymasters who are not Urhobo. They should be told that the Urhobo should be allowed to choose for themselves whom they deem fit the way Anioma/Delta North did in 2014. Our case cannot be different. Those who disregard the UPU and our kings should be ready to contend with curses. Yes, the time to invoke curses is near for those who want to sell Urhobo and destroy our chances. The time for our kings to act is now.
Ijuwe Ijuwe Ijuwe ….we suton !!!