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The people of Ugborodo Community,Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, have said in a protest over the weekend that they rejected the Lordship of the Olu of Warri Kingdom, calling on President Muhammadu Bahuri to disregard any claim that they’re Olu’s subjects.
The members of the community said that at no time were they part of the Olu of Warri kingdom, as they do not have any Chief from Ugborodo kingdom that forms part of the Chiefs in the palace of the Olu of Warri.
The Ugborodo Community Council of Elders had in a statement signed by 27 members of the Ugborodo Council of Elders refuted two open letters (advertorials), addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, published in one of the national dailies saying that Ugborodo Community “is part and parcel of Warri Kingdom under the overlordship of the Olu of Warri.”
The people of Ugborodo community, who turned out in their hundreds to protest what they termed as “slavery” by the palace of the Olu of Warri kingdom, they said they could no longer tolerate the level of alleged injustice being done to them by the Palace of the Olu.
Some of the placards carried by the people during the peaceful protest read, “Ugborodo Kingdom is not part of Olu of Warri”, “Governor Okowa, Ugborodo People Are Not Against Your Government”, “There Are No Kidnappers, Murderers, Criminals In Ugborodo Kingdom”,“Governor Okowa Please Help Us Recover Funds Meant For The Development Of Ugborodo Kingdom From Chief Ayiri Emami”, etc.
Hon. Thomas Metseagharun, the Toritsemogha of Ugborodo Community, who spoke to journalists during the peaceful protest said they were against the slavery of their people by some few people in Warri, who had resorted to calling them all sorts of unprintable names in order to destroy them, adding that Ugborodo community was an autonomous community under the leadership of Olaja-Orori.
“We are protesting the slavery of our people by some few people in Warri. How can we have this mighty project in our land and we are living in abject poverty? There is nothing to show that we have an oil company here in our community.
“Ugborodo is an autonomous community. We have been in existence since 13 AD. You cannot change who we are. We know that we originate from Ode in Ijebu land. We are from the Yoruba lineage,” Hon Metseagharun said.
On her part, a member of the community Mrs. Felicia Gbobi, who also spoke to journalists lamented that the Olu of Warri has allegedly used security personnel to chase them out of their community.
“I am a young woman but I have been around for more than five decades now and my mother is still alive. Ugborodo has never been part of Olu of Warri. They want to use security men to intimidate us and we can no longer sleep with our eyes closed,”Gbobi said.
On his part, Apostle William Agbajor, accused some Chiefs from the Palace of the Olu of Warri of allegedly conniving with some people to deprive them of what rightly belonged to them.
“Before the advent of Warri Kingdom, Ugborodo Community has been around. It was the late Ginuwa, who passed through this community in the 40s that claimed this land. Since their coming to this community, they have been terrorizing and oppressing us,” according to Agbajor.
