GOV OBOREVWORI: HOW NOT TO PLAY POLITICS WITH ETHNIC TENSION
-By Zik Gbemre
In the guise of a misplaced coronation anniversary procession, Itsekiris youths sponsored by their Olu and elders have again invaded and wrecked damage on the UPU headquarters House in Otovwodo Agbarha in Warri Township. And the greater worry is why would a Delta State Governor delight in making passive threats like a bystander to play politics with such a tense situation implodes.
What stops Governor Sheriff Oborevwori from summoning all 3 Warri South monarchs for interaction and issuance of matching orders, including telling the Olu to fix the UPU House damaged by his unruly subjects?
Ode Itsekiri is not a mere historical ancestral home to the Olu and Itsekiris as if it has gone into extinction and now a monument for tourist visits.
Ode-Itsekiri remains the Palace and Seat of rulership of the Olu. The Palace of successive Olu remains there in Ode-Itsekiri.
That modern day Olus choose to live as customary tenants in a Palace Annex in a Warri Urban they don't own does not make Warri Township the seat of rulership of an Olu.
That is why till date, in the rites of Coronation and core Anniversary Celebration of an Olu are done in Ode-Itsekiri. Other activities staged in Warri urban are ceremonial and unnecessary show of force. That is why Itsekiris deliberately came up with the name "Big Warri" as alternative name for the hamlet remote from Warri Township.
To defend their false claims to Warri ownership, Itsekiri ensures at all costs that Warri is attached to anywhere they have settlement, even as minorities to neighboring tribes they share such settlements with.
At the split, from Warri LGA, of Koko town and adjoining Ijaws, Itsekiri coastal communities along the Benin River which also hosts some Ilajes, why was it necessary to call the severe half Warri North? Why not Koko LGA? What has Warri got to do with Koko after splitting it?
Why should the procession for a Coronation Anniversary done in remote Ode Itsekiri hamlet be dragged to Otovwodo Agbarha? An Olu coronation anniversary procession should be led by the Olu as Chief Celebrant. And that should be done in Ode Itsekiri.
If the Olu who has done his anniversary procession in rightful Ode Itsekiri hamlet didn't see the justification to stage a show of force inside a neighboring kingdoms in the name of coronation anniversary procession in Warri, why would any overzealous subject embark on such incitement?
I don't blame Olu and his subjects. The governor plays politics with everything, including unprovoked threat to lives by one Warri community against another.
Zik Gbemre
August 27,2025
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