CULTURE & TRADITION

Kingdom Disagreement: How Emami Outsmarted Olu Of Warri

<h4>Kingdom Disagreement<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that what seems endless disagreements in the royal kingdom of Warri&comma; Delta State between the Olu of Warri&comma; His Majesty&comma; Ogiamé Atuwatse III and Ayiri Emami&comma; a deposed Ologbotsere of Warri&comma; has exploded to somewhat uncontrollable dimension as the first round of the battle saw Emami outsmarting the Olu in collecting royal beads and other insignia of office&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to the story&comma; the Olu appears to have crossed the Rubicon in his long-drawn disagreement with Ayiri Emami&comma; when on Sunday&comma; April 16&comma; 2023&comma; he installed Chief Oma Eyewuoma&comma; as the new holder of the highest Itsekiri traditional title&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prior to his installation as Ologbotsere&comma; the traditional prime minister of Warri Kingdom&comma; Eyewuoma was the Aboludero of Warri&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The immediate past holder of the title&comma; Emami&comma; a businessman and political activist&comma; was deposed by the Olu of Warri on October 5&comma; 2021 at a ceremony held at the palace&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Emami as the Ologbotsere challenged the process that led to the emergence of Ogiame Atuwatse III as the Olu of Warri&comma; insisting that there were some violations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As the controversy raged&comma; two crowns of the ancient kingdom were allegedly stolen from the palace and a police investigation indicted Emami and other individuals&comma; including two princes who were declared wanted&period; Emami was arraigned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The court case and missing crowns notwithstanding&comma; the Olu of Warri&comma; upon ascending the throne&comma; has been carrying on his traditional and social duties with his reconstituted council of chiefs without an Ologbotsere&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Palace sources however hinted that there had been interventions from several quarters to settle the dispute among the parties involved and ensure unity among natives of the Itsekiri nation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the latest in the peace and reconciliatory moves between the Olu of Warri and the Ologbotsere descendants led by Chief Ayirimi Emami&comma; hit a brick wall last Sunday as the scheduled meeting at the Aghofen&comma; the palace&comma; witnessed the installation of a new Ologbotsere&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The development surfaced after Emami rejected the monarch’s offer to install him as the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Eyeku” of Warri&semi; a title held by his late father&comma; Chief Akonu Emami&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The reconciliatory meeting was witnessed by the immediate past Governor of Delta State&comma; Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan&semi; ex-president&comma; Christian Association of Nigeria and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria&comma; Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor&comma; notable palace chiefs&comma; as well several Itsekiris who thronged the Aghófen Hall for the meeting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prior to the meeting&comma; the Olu had invited Warri chiefs to report at the palace with their insignias of office&comma; beads and swords&comma; for a revalidation exercise&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Addressing the gathering&comma; the Olu of Warri&comma; who prior to the installation of the new Ologbotsere&comma; had collected symbols of the Ologbotsere title &lpar;beads and &OpenCurlyQuote;Uda’ sword&rpar; from Emami&comma; reminded his subjects that the conferment of chieftaincy titles on anyone was solely the prerogative of the Olu&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The monarch noted that as a father to all&comma; he was using the occasion to offer forgiveness to erring subjects&comma; noting that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;forgiveness and reconciliation are virtues that have the potential of making us stronger as people and as a kingdom&period;’’<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a long speech&comma; the Olu of Warri stressed his superiority as king over Iwereland&comma; disclosing that he understood from the dreams he had that Emami should bear his late father’s title&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The monarch added&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Today is a very unusual day&period; But we will do something unusual&period; I won’t do this publicly again&comma; but there is a reason why today is public&period; An opportunity for us to come together and reconcile&period; The outcome is for the good and betterment of Itsekiri&comma; irrespective of anybody’s reaction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;God does not have an opposite&period; Ogiame does not have an enemy&period; In this kingdom&comma; there is no rival&period; The beads on the neck of our chiefs are personal property of the Ogiame&period; I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;True reconciliation will not be forced on Ogiame&period; The terms will be determined by Ogiame&period; We have a divine reason to do this publicly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;It is not an easy thing for me to do this&period; I had to humble myself&period; Itsekiris want Ogiame to be proud at all times because we are a proud people&period; As directed and determined by God&comma; pride is actually not one of the ways of God&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I had been battling for almost two years on how I could come down to address this Ologbotsere issue&period; I was covering Ayiri Emami even when I was in Idaneken&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I authored an apology for him to read&period; As it happened&comma; the apology didn’t surface&period; God wants this matter to be resolved&period; I understand the fears some of you might have&period; Every human being deserves a second chance&period; Monarchy is a reflection of how God operates&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ikenwoli told me&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What I did privately with Ayiri&comma; do it publicly for all to see&period;’’ This was after O&period;N&period; Rewane&comma; Chief Mayuku and Chief Akonu Emami appeared to me in a dream&period; None of you here is better than this man &lpar;Chief Ayiri&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I am tired of fighting&period; I will not humiliate the Ologbotsere family&period; The Ologbotsere title remains the most senior title&period; Ikenwoli like Atuwatse II knew what they saw in this man &lpar;Chief Ayirimi Emami&rpar;&period; Let everyone stand up and celebrate this man &lpar;referring to Chief Emami&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I do not want Itsekiri to fight&period; I have given him a chance for redemption&comma; to work for the interest of Itsekiri&period; He has conceded he will not accept his father’s title&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was gathered that the stalled peace initiative was brokered by Pastor Oritsejafor who is also a prominent Itsekiri&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier&comma; the Ooni of Ife&comma; Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi&comma; Ojaja II&comma; was in Warri a few months ago&comma; during which he met with the Olu of Warri and Chief Ayiri Emami separately&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a dramatic twist&comma; Emami&comma; who left the Olu of Warri palace after rejecting the king’s offer&comma; said he remained the Ologbotsere of Warri&period; He noted that the traditional beads and sword he submitted on Sunday to the king during the meeting at the palace where he was deposed were fake&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He claimed that he still had the original traditional beads and sword presented to him by &lpar;former kings&rpar; Ogiame Atuwaste II and Ogiame Ikenwoli and the Uda&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Emami said he did that because he had a dream about what would happen during the reconciliation meeting and he was prepared&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Addressing Ologbotsere descendants and supporters&comma; who accompanied him to his residence&comma; Emami disclosed that the original beads and sword&comma; authenticating him as the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom were still intact&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He displayed the traditional beads and the sword to buttress his claim&comma; saying&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These three beads&semi; the bead of Atuwatse II&comma; my late father and that of Ikenwoli&comma; are my inheritance&period; I did not buy them&period; Have you seen me with one bead before&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What happened at the palace today was not what we agreed on during Ologbotsere descendants and myself with the Olu of Warri&period; I was open for genuine reconciliation but suspected that the king and some of his chiefs were not sincere&comma; hence&comma; I have to go there with another set of beads and sword&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>You can see the original beads and sword right in my house &lpar;displaying the beads and sword to the Ologbotsere descendants and his followers at his home&rpar;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also&comma; the spokesman for the Ologbotsere descendants worldwide&comma; Alex Eyengho&comma; while speaking with journalists on the development&comma; emphasised that the title of Ologbotsere is conferred on an individual &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;till death&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to him&comma; Emami accepting the title of his father&comma; which is a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;lesser title in the name of peace&comma;” will amount to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;peace of the graveyard&comma;” which nobody wants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Eyengho stated&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What happened in the palace today &lpar;Sunday&rpar;&comma; was part of a script that has been written&period; We had a premonition of the event that would play out&period; Hence&comma; the bead and sword presented at the palace were fake&period; It has been an ongoing script&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Ologbotsere family is not stupid&period; The original beads and sword are intact&period; Once you give a title to someone&comma; it is till death&period; You don’t take it back&period; For the Ologbotsere title to be given&comma; it must come from the family of Ologbotsere&comma; on request from the king&period; Chief Ayirimi Emami remains the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom&period;’’<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As Emami is unyielding&comma; the Olu of Warri is also sticking to his guns&comma; maintaining that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the outcome is for the good and betterment of Itsekiri&comma; irrespective of anybody’s reaction&period;’’<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some observers of the events emanating from the revered kingdom are of the view that the last of the matter had yet to be heard considering both parties’ rigid bearings<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Contacted&comma; a Warri-based industrialist&comma; Chief Lucky Omonigho&comma; said that some powerful forces had continued to frustrate the patriotic efforts of the monarch for their own selfish interests&period; According to him&comma; the monarch wants to ensure that the people of the kingdom&comma; not a few individuals&comma; benefit from oil firms operating in the kingdom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another Itsekiri indigene&comma; Madam Veronica Ogene&comma; however&comma; called for a truce between the Olu of Warri and his chiefs stressing that the campaign for peaceful coexistence in the community should be sustained for the much-needed socio-economic development of the kingdom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Openlife Reporter

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