…Urges Oborevwori, Dafinone, others to stand up to their responsibilities

The Okpe Union has called on Itsekiri leaders to honour the 1943 WACA judgement and desist from all “their bogus claims on Okpẹ territories.”

The call was made by the President General of Okpe Union Worldwide, Prof Igho Natufe, in his New Year Message, noting that as a “Nationality that prides itself as a respecter of the rule of law and court judgements, one would expect the Itsekiri Nation to honour the 1943 WACA judgement and desist from all their bogus claims on Okpẹ territories.”

The Union also accused the Itsekiri leaders of renaming the sections where they were allowed to reside as refugees with Itsekiri names.

“For example, they changed Etamua to Ogunaja, Amua Ogodo to Aja Ogodo, and a part of Amuokpe to Aja-Sagay.”

The union decried the “blatant demonstration of reckless expansionism by some Itsekiris,” stressing that “the settler equates himself to the indigenes. The Okpẹ Union demands that Itsekiri leadership call to order these Itsekiri elements who denigrate the sovereignty of the Okpẹ Nation over its territories. The case of the Itsekiri threat in Sapele should be of serious concern to all Okpẹ people.”

According to Prof. Natufe, the claims by the Itsekiris of Abigborodo, Obotie and others to indigenous communities in Okpẹ land were rubbished by the Delta State Judicial Commission of Enquiry into the Okpẹ Sobo Forest Reserve in 2020.

‘’The bogus claims by some Itsekiris to indigenous communities in Okpeland, especially in the areas that were constituted into the Sapele Okpẹ Sobo Forest Reserve during the Colonial Era, when the Okpẹ Nation was created under the Urhobo Division, led to the setting up of a Delta State Judicial Commission of Enquiry into the Okpẹ Sobo Forest Reserve in 2020 by the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa Administration. From the published Record of Proceedings of the Commission of Enquiry, the claims by the Itsekiris of Abigborodo, Obotie and others to indigenous communities in Okpẹ land were rubbished,” he said.

The President General of Okpe Union Worldwide also noted that the Itsekiris and the Okpẹs do not have any land boundaries.

“The territorial boundary between Okpẹ land and Itsekiriland is the stretch of the Hole in the Wall Creek, the tributary that extends between Sapele and Abigborodo (boundary between Sapele LGA and Warri North LGA)over which the Emmanuel Uduaghan Administration constructed a bridge, to Obotie-Ugbukurusu, to Ikeresan, to Elume River, to Erogho water side, and finally to the water boundary between Ughoton and Omadino (the boundary between Okpe LGA and Warri South LGA) over which the James Ibori Administration constructed the Ughoton-Omadino Bridge.”

The Union called on the Okpẹ Traditional Council and political leaders, especially the chairmen of the Sapele Local Government Council (LGC) and the Okpẹ Local Government Council (LGC) and representatives in the Delta State House of Assembly to stand up to their responsibilities as the defenders of Okpẹ sovereignty.

‘’The menace by some Itsekiris is more troubling to the Okpẹ Nation. Recalling that we opened our doors to welcome Itsekiri fleeing from their civil war and offered them shelter, it now seems that our hospitality has become a curse, just as the Hausas in the north and indigenous nationalities in central Nigeria are experiencing with the Fulanis.

“The Itsekiri civil war, known as the ‘Nana war’ of 1894, forced scores of Itsekiris to flee their lands and ‘ran for refuge to Sapele, where they were granted refuge by the Okpẹ people’, the owners of Sapele.

“This was the judgment of the West African Court of Appeal (WACA), Holden at Lagos, Nigeria, on April 30th 1943, before their Honours: Sir Donald Kingdon, Chief Justice of Nigeria – President; Sir Philip Bertis Petrides, Chief Justice, Gold Coast (now Ghana), and George Graham Paul, Chief Justice, Sierra Leone.”

It urged Okpẹ political leaders, specifically Okakuro Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, Okakuro Senator Ede Dafinone, Hon. Ben Etanabene, Ekakuro James Augoye and Perkins Umukoro to begin to articulate and promote Okpẹ interests in their respective portfolios.

“The policy of peaceful coexistence continues to define the cornerstone of Okpẹ Union’s relationship with other ethnic nationalities. However, let it be known that, by any legitimate means possible, we will strongly defend the territories of the Okpẹ Nation against intrusions by any ethnic nationality on our sovereignty.

While non-Okpẹ nationals are welcome in Okpẹ villages and towns, they must not forget that they are guests and not owners of Okpẹ land. Unlike other nationalities, some elements in the Itsekiri Nation do not seem to understand this fundamental principle of residency outside their ancestral lands. Interestingly, these Itsekiri elements will not dare to claim ownership of Ajoki, Ekehuan and Ologbo in the Benin Kingdom.”

The union said the appellation” Sapele Okpẹ Community” should be changed.

‘’It has no conceptual difference with the other ethnic communities in Sapele, for instance, the Sapele Ndigbo Community, the Sapele Yoruba Community, the Sapele Itsekiri Community, etc. It is passive. A more positive name, for example, Sapele Indigenes Association, should be considered as it connotes a definitive and positive meaning.”