TRACING THE ROOT OF GREED AND OPPRESSION IN AND AROUND WARRI, DELTA STATE. BY ENA OFUGARA. To begin, I must state that I am an unrepentant believer in RESIDENCE as opposed to ORIGIN. I believe that the Warri original story has been one of allowing immigrants join in and participate fully in the activities of any community they settle in. It is how the Osagie of Benin became the Sagay family of Itsekiri. It is how the AYOmanor, a Yoruba family (For those who will argue, what does AYO mean in Okpe?) became powerful family of the Okpe-Urhobo. It is how the Esan Ogodo (Look at the fair skin of the Ogodos and look at Esan/Ishan people, and u will believe the oral history that says they are Ishan emigrants. It is how a Benin man will come to Sapele and be called OMOraka, meaning child of Benin and he will grow to become a powerful family of Sapele. (everyone denies of course). Once a straggler comes into a community, all he had to do was marry the local or just be upright, and he will be allowed to stay and integrated. Thus, our forefathers in Warri and environs, were a lot more modern in citizenship and residence than modern-day self-centered tribalistic Deltans. Today we try to deny whole communities living in a place for over 400 years the right to benefits accruing from that land. We cite ICHOKU-like court cases and decisions, saying we own the place. (The court drama of the 80s where an Ibo interpreter, barely understanding English, pass on the judgement of the White man.) These court cases judged by people who neither understand us nor do we understand them. We hold this as evidence that we own areas that even the soil and air, show a culture different from ours. ICHOKU COURT DECISIONS are what they are....all of the Warri and Sapele court decisions. Further to this, none of the Itsekiri, Ijaw and Urhobo folktales, tell of any wars between Ijaw and Itsekiri, or Urhobo and Itsekiri, nor of Urhobo and Ijaw. The bloodlines from inter-marriages run so deep that many people just choose who they want to be, Itsekiri or Urhobo (though they always choose Itsekiri for reasons that we will touch on). THE GREED IS RECENT. A lot of my friends even here on facebook are Itsekiris and are very vocal, and I expect a rebuttal and a fact-checking, and then you can decide if I speak the truth or not. I also want to state clearly that I am not the one calling for self-help as a means of getting justice. My Itsekiri friends here have stated that Warri is sitting on a keg of gunpowder. That is, any day anytime, violence may begin, as violence begets violence. Thus, it behoves on me to give as true an account of what is Warri history and reason for the annoyances and burgeoning hate. (regretable, avoidable.) Now, I will first dispel a few long-held false premises. Is Itsekiri really a minority? I beg to disagree. If you consider their number, one may say that they are a minority. However, the history of the Itsekiris is closely linked with that of Binis and Yorubas. The obvious linguistic similarity between Yoruba and Itsekiri is all the proof that indeed they are linked. Also, Itsekiri occupies the 8th seat of the Afenifere, the PAN Yoruba group. Also, Awolowo has never hidden his support of the Itsekiris based on total knowledge of a consanguineous relationship between Itsekiris and Yorubas. Consequently, in 1953, Awolowo as Premier of the Western Region, changed a peoples King title from Olu of Itsekiri, a Kingship that follows a riverine people, to Olu of Warri, a Kingship that now overlords over independent indigenous/settler tribes of Warri. These peoples never considered him their King. Also, the same Awolowo, was a lawyer for the Itsekiris in most of their land cases against Urhobos. Furthermore, the first Itsekiri King is said to be a Benin Prince. The Oba of Benin and entire Benin Kingdom consider the Itsekiri as an offshoot of them. Thus, if the Itsekiris can count on the most populous single ethnic group in Nigeria, the Yorubas, (more populous than Hausa and Fulani when split into Hausa and Fulani) and the proud Benin Kingdom as ONE, how are they still a minority? It is like calling Israel a minority when the whole of Europe and America supports their every move, right or wrong. The Itsekiri Winning Of The Media Battle. We all know the Yorubas control the media, and guess who they will support? Also, though an Urhobo man owns the Guardian, like most things Urhobo, the Guardian stays fair. (we will get to this shortly) The Vanguard, on the other hand, is owned by Amuka, an Itsekiri, and like most things Itsekiri, the Vanguard does not hide its support for everything Itsekiri. It is the official paper of the Delta State government as headed by the Itsekiri Uduaghan. It is so partial, when an Itsekiri marries and Itsekiri, the Vanguard sometimes give them a page free. Also, the brilliant Itsekiris have since known the power of the media and runs to it the minute it senses any happening unfavourable to it. The speed with which it called for the Presidents resignation for not coming to commission the EPZ as well as the putting of media pressure on him these past days, is clear evidence of this power. Over the EPZ, the Itsekiri side of the story inundates the press. The Ijaws are seen now as oppressors using the criminal, militant Tompolo and the Ijaw-born President GEJ as co-conspirator. The fact that the EPZ and EGTL have serious Federal input and that the minister of petroleum, Deziani is also Ijaw and Bayelsa and easily could have sited the project in Bayelsa or the fully Ijaw Burutu or Bomadi, is hidden from the unsuspecting and gullible public. ITSEKIRI IS BEING OPPRESSED, is the mantra. DO URHOBOS HATE ITSEKIRIS? This weekend, I am sure an Urhobo will marry an Itsekiri. The Urhobo Kings like the Ovie of Uvwie and Orodje of Okpe have always had a wall of protection around the Itsekiris in times of crisis. Urhobo homes and households have been a fortress and refugee camp especially during the Itsekiri Ijaw crisis. Urhobos held Itsekiri children and wives safe from harm. IS THIS HATE? I am Uvwie and my King in time past, gave Itsekiri a central portion of Uvwie land called UGBOLUKPOSO wherein Itsekiris now bury their dead. Itsekiris have gone to court to claim that they own the very center of the Uviwe Kingdom and want to own same EXCLUSIVELY. They won the case. The courts in a strange holding have said giving a part of a Kingdom to others to live, removes your rulership over that land. STRANGE! Palmer, the Yoruba slave trade merchant in the courtcase between Okpe-Urhobo and Itsekiris on ownership of Sapele, stated how the Urhobos sheltered Itsekiris when their usurper King Nana of Koko fought the British, who brought death to Koko with their gunboat. Also, Ogodo, a leading Urhob family of Sapele, gave Ajemele to an Itsekiri woman and her people to live and thrive. Does this show hate? WHO IS SELFISH BETWEEN THE URHOBOS AND ITSEKIRIS? A LOOK AT COMPANIES SITED ON EACH LAND. AT&P (URHOBOLAND) This was the biggest company perhaps in Nigeria as at 1900. The Urhobos allowed everybody, Esan, Binis, Yoruba, Ibo, live safely and work in this company. Sapele is cosmopolitan today, based on the openness of the Okpes. ETERNIT. (URHOBO LAND)Though Dafinone, the most tribalistic of the Urhobo leaders has a stake in it, Eternit continues to be employers of all tribes. DELTA STEEL COMPANY ALADJA (URHOBOLAND) Everybody knows this was home to everyone, irrespective of tribe. The Technical school it established trained loads of Itsekiris as well as Binis and Urhobos. Tribe was no hindrance. FLOUR MILL (Urhoboland). Owned by an Itsekiri Rewane, the management staff is obvioulsy partial to Itsekiris. The company continues to have an Itsekiri interface, though located in Urhobo land. However, many Urhobos work in it and for this I am sure Urhobos stay grateful. SHELL (URHOBO LAND?) Ogunu is Urhobo Community in an area courts have called Itsekiri land. The oil drilled by Shell are from Urhobo land majorly. Shell employs everyone, with no particular emphasis on Urhobo. The Shell scholarship is equitably shared to Ijaws, Itskiris, Urhobo, Yoruba Ibo, Hausa etc. CHEVRON. (ITSEKIRI LAND)Hmmmm. Like I always say, it should be re-christened ITSEKIRIVON or TSEVRON. Never has tribalism been so clear. They give scholarship to only Itsekiris. The workers are all Itsekiris and for Urhobos to work there, you must change your name to an Itsekiri name. (sad, shameful, humiliating). Yes, a few Urhobos like the Urhobo Kings children and strong politicians like Henry Baro can work there now, but it is audible to the deaf and visible to the blind that Itsekiris, through time showed how greedy they are with the exclusivity they have had over an international company. Now, all the inchoate business of barges, houseboats, tugboats, flyboats etc are by owned by Itsekiris. We understand that Ayiri Emami has the contract to supply for all diesel used by Chevron. No Urhobo dares go there for contract. IS THIS FAIR? This has gone on since the inception of Chevron in Delta state. ESCRAVOS. This is an oil rich enclave of the Itsekiris. Again, all the companies doing business there are owned by Itsekiris. I must state here and now that I am grateful that Itsekiris do not rat out an Urhobo who changes his name to Itsekiri, or buys a slot (position reserved for an Itsekiri. They sell these positions if they already have a better job elsewhere. This is a veritable business for them. But on behalf of Urhobos who get such slots, I say thank you) Though the Urhobo may never rise in the company, yet the moneys have saved many lives. Petroleum Training Institute. (URHOBOLAND) Until Friday Ani, Newton and Baro Henry, arose in defense of Urhobos, PTI was in Uviwe Urhobo land for nothing. Urhobos hardly were allowed to attend. It was a training ground for Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba Ibos and Itsekiri. For the Urhobo-youth able to attend PTI, while his Itsekiri friend and brother (we are usually close) will finish and earn big bucks upon employment by Chevron, shell etc, the Urhobo boy will struggle to make it into Shell and will likely ask his mother and father for money to travel abroad to do work unrelated to his skill...mostly. EGTL. (Itsekiri land) This is the one that gets me irate. This is a Federal and State government multi-billion dollar initiative. Gas will be turned to crude and sold. The gas is majorly from Ndokwa (Delta Igbo,) Isoko and then Urhobo lands, as well as Ijaw, Itsekiri and Ilaje lands. This is where WITCHCRAFT IS EXHIBITED BY OUR NEIGHBOURS. Itsekiris sat down and just because it is sited on their land by their Itsekiri governor; they divided the contracts and jobs thus. Itsekiri =60% (fewer people and many already staff of Chevron) Ijaw= 20% (before Tompolo come kill person) Ilaje=20% (Una know say we be one) Urhobo= ZERO % Una fada! Ndokwa=ZERO % Una no well. Swim go Anambra. Isoko=ZERO % Dem dey count una join? Mtchew Again, the gas that will power this company, the reason the investment was made and the company formed, is majorly in Ndokwa and Isoko lands. Yet, Itsekiri seized 60 percent to themselves. SO WHO IS STEALING FROM AND OPPRESSING WHOM?????? SEPLAT. (Urhoboland) Considering the AT&P and all companies sited in Okpe-Urhobo land has never been partial, the Okpes, yet Okpe-Urhobo youths cannot work in any company on Itsekiri soil; they went berserk this time. Seplat will not employ me Ena Ofugara who is from Okpes brother dialect Uvwie, which has lived in Sapele since 1976, that is Urhobo, SEPLAT will not employ me. Thus Sapele has lost its cosmopolitan welcoming of everyone. Can you blame the Okpes? IT GETS WORSE IN SAPELE. The Okpe-Urhobos, seeing the influence and selfishness of the Itsekiris, have also made laws targeted at Itsekiris, but affecting everyone. The Seplat non-indigene employment example is one. The next is that no one, not of Okpe descent will be buried in Sapele. This is to send a message to Itsekirirs you cannot use the influence to claim this land. Also, Itsekiris, considering all the moneys now in their coffers from being in Government, Chevron, EGTL, etc etc, they wanted to hold a festival in Sapele. The Okpes would have fought them and disrupted the festival. The governor cancelled a night to the festival, when he saw that Okpes, unlike is usual to the Urhobos, this time meant mayhem. Selfishness begets selfishness I have heard said. The EPZ. Now, a 16 million dollars EPZ is being established on mostly Itsekiri soil. The Itsekiris have first collected some millions of dollars, shared same exclusively, and now want to own the EPZ EXCLUSIVELY. They only claim to it? That their son the governor, sited it on their land. In fact, it was in Koko and now in Ogidigben. Itsekiris claim it was moved to Ogidigben by the Minister of Petroleum, so as to be close to the Ijaws. Have you heard anything more selfish in your life? Now, Itsekiris want to keep out all other tribes. Ayiri brought together 14 journalists 90 percent of Yoruba and Itsekiri parentage to prove Ijaws do not have a stake in Ogidigben and the EPZ. To Itsekiris, a stake means being on your land. That the raw materials will come from other areas, they hide from everyone else. That all of Delta, including Asaba, Ikah etc ought be part of this humoungous investment is lost on them. GREED GREED GREED is making them WANT IT ALL. Now, let us suppose/assume that the EPZ is fully on Itsekiri soil and that all the gas and all the oil and everything will be Itsekiri owned, DOES THAT GIVE THEM A RIGHT TO EVEN 60 Percent? What is the percentage for derivation in Nigeria? Is it not 13 percent? In Angola, Texas, Gabon etc that have oil, do they restrict the workers to only those the company is sited on their land? WHAT HELLISH GREED MADE IN BOTTOM PARTS OF HADES makes a people want to keep everything to themselves then scream THEY ARE OPPRESSING US? SHOULD ANIOMAS NOT HAVE A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP OF WHAT IS SITED IN THEIR STATE, JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO OIL (Ndokwa is Anioma. It has plenty oil and gas alright). AS ITSEKIRI PREPARES FOR WAR. Itsekiris have signed a memorandum of understanding with OPC for protection in exchange for work and money. Look at all the posts I have made on the EPZ, and check the comments of Itsekiris. Go to Delta How Una See Am on facebook and see that time and again, Itsekiris reference fighting and war and how well they will do and how they killed this Ijaw or that in the war. For a people that took a hiding from the Ijaws, for a people responsible for Ijaw awakening (Ijaws realized their strength and numbers when they fought together against Itsekiri. Tompolo etc have become gods since then) the boasts astounds. Also, they seem to forget that all they have is the riverine areas of Delta state and that they own the landed properties in land not theirs. And that their numbers are fewer. And that Ojukwu and Awo example should guide them when relying on OPC. That Ijaw discipline and numbers and arms and states covered is a ready source of fighters, not OPC mercenaries, but Ijaws fighting for Ijaws. They forget Ijaws and their Asawana so quickly. They forget that mabe this time; Urhobos may not be so welcoming as they may say when una dey enjoy since, una call we? He who eats alone dies alone. They forget that despite all the moneys, all top countries of the world, are the ones with population, so must look at Urhobo more respectfully, even though for now Urhobos have no arms, being a peaceful people. Boastful statements of war do anyone no good. As always, the Ijaws stay DEATHLY SILENT....majorly. THE ITSEKIRI YOUTHS PROVE RICH ALSO CRY With all the wealth since Chevron, Ibori, Uduaghan, DESOPADEC, etc. etc., the Itsekiri youth is also crying. Their leaders continue to steal from their paychecks. They have encouraged these companies to casualize the workforce. Thus instead of Chevron to employ Tosan and pay him well, Chevron will say it has contracted out that job and pay Toju, a community leader, who then collects over 50 percent of Tosans salary and then Tosan will never get to be pensionable. Also, while many of the rich names we hear now are Itsekiri, the youths still go out of Nigeria to do mumu jobs, because these leaders take the jobs in the name of Itsekiri, and then sell many of the positions to Ibos, Urhobos etc, as they can pay these people whatever, while the Itsekiri boy, knowing his rights will ask for full payment.and benefits. THE ITSEKIRIS CAN DO BETTER. I hit my chest to say an Itsekiri boy is worth having as friend, and women, I have had my longest-lasting relationships with them. They are warm, jovial, loud, friendly and understand bonding. It is why in Oguanja, if you hit one, you have hit all of them. They come at you together. However, as they can see from the fact that Urhobos and Ijaws never fight or quarrel, while they (itsekiri) always are at loggerheads with their neighbours. They must ask why. Akwa Ibom has huge oil deposits. No one tribe is being fought. What then in Itsekiri makes them fight their neighbours? They must search within themselves and open their hands a bit. Companies are sited in Benin. Esans work there. Companies are sited in Victoria Island, all of Lagos, nay Nigeria, work there. Donald Duke built Tinapa; no tribe claims ownership. Lagos has EPZ too. No tribe has said it belongs to them. Wherever Itsekiri found this greed, they must return it. MUST-DO FOR THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. It is time to pass a Employment and Contract Fairness Law that will spell out the percentage of a companys employment and contracts that must be shared between ALL DELTANS....Asaba, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ndokwa, Urhobo or Isoko, as well as keep slots for the Esans, Binis, Ibos and Yorubas as well as Hausa amongst us. The Chevron example and the EGTL greed and EXCLUSIVITY must be stopped by law. Within that law, indigene cannot get more that 40% of any employment or contracts awarded, and indigene must include in its definition, all settler tribes in that locality. For instance, SEPLAT must consider Ajemele and all Itsekiri villages as indigene. Remember, armed Rome in its glory was destroyed byhungry Barbarians near them. If the law does not address this, sadly, self-help will one day, and all would be destroyed and everybody will lose. I end this with Oritsefemis song BETTER as I sing if e better for every man ohh, better for every woman, if e better for everyone oh, Warri Crisis e no go dey. Osan gbene de de de de, Osan gbene de de de de, Osan gbene de de de de, bambiallah e no go dey. By Ena Ofugara
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 15:13:00 +0000
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