Mr. Obiomah has in this treatise
brought into sharp focus some of the hidden issues in Warri political history
whereby British Colonial Administration and British Judicial System in
the Delta province and particularly Warri, conspired in defence of British
self-interest to deprive the Agbarha Urhobo as indigenes and owners of WarriTown
of their land and rights. The
issues were not so clear until this presentation by Mr. Obiomah. Up to
now, but for the recent unconscionable and provocative tirade by a group
of Itsekiri people who claim leadership over the Itsekiris and the release
of much venom against the Urhobos and Ijaws of the Delta Province, the
issues had been almost successfully buried in false history and mis-interpretation
of court judgements of the past by Itsekiri leaders and, upon which they
had built their false claims of ownership of Warri and therefore all rights
and privileges accruing therefrom, either economically, politically or
traditionally, throughout the colonial period up to date and, in spite
of 27 years of Nigeria's Independence with a brand new Constitution in
1979.
Mr. Obiomah has carefully marshalled
from accepted history, decided cases, British Colonial Official communications
between themselves which are now public records, Intelligence reports,
etc., a picture as devastating and so compelling that ever responsible
Nigerian who is interested in truth, justice and, unity, cannot fail to
ponder how it was possible that the British system of government otherwise
famous for fairness and justice, could have been so crudely manipulated
by the British themselves to single out a class of people (the Agbarha
Urhobos) for oppression. Mr.
Obiomah gives the answer that in tune with the British Policy of indirect
rule in furtherance of their consolidation of power following the Berlin
Agreement of 1885, the British had, as a matter of course, to always defend
their interests at all costs particularly, any chief they had imposed on
any people and, through whom British policies were effected and interests
protected. The facts are more
compelling still when Mr. Obiomah recounts how the British appointed agent
Dore Numa for Benin River, after the British deposed the Itsekiri recognized
leader Nana, and Dore Numa helped the British to overthrow and banish the
Oba of Benin Overawmen Nogbaisi. It
was a forgone conclusion that whatever the British agent did on behalf
of the British must be defended by the British, even if it meant robbing
the Agbarha Urhobos of their land for the benefit of Colonial settlement
in WarriTown. The well
know British principle of justice and fair play had to be thrown
overboard in pursuit of the protection of British interests however fraudulently
acquired.
As for the much maligned Agbarha
elders who pursued the Agbarha cases with exceptional courage and intelligence
as records now show, (although they were regarded by the prejudiced British
judges as senile and stupid), Mr. Obiomah shows from the record of proceedings
that this was far from the truth. The
Agbarha lost their case because they were fighting against a self interested
colonial government and Judiciary and not Dore Numa their agent. In
spite of their lack of education, in spite of the threat of Her Britannic
Majesty's forces breathing down their necks, they held fast to their claim
in quire intelligent and logical manner.Even
when their lawyer was tricked into agreeing that if they won they would
not alter the terms of the Dore leases on their behalf, they rightly stuck
to their guns that they owned the land and not their lawyer. Their
audacity before the court as illiterate persons rejecting their lawyer's
arrangement with the court, so infuriated the judge that he could not conceal
his prejudice on the records.
Mr.
Obiomah has brought out quite clearly and convincingly that the Itsekiri
claim to ownership of Warri, historically and through the imposition of
Overlordship was false ab initio. The
Itsekiris, Mr. Obiomah convinces the reader, were the last of the three
ethnic groups to settle in Warri Local Government Area and the last to
come near Warri mainland. The
same British who signed a treaty with the Itsekiris in a Ship S.S. Dodo
at Forcados one year later in 1894, appointed Dore their agent the same
year, 30 years later reversed history to decide through the Privy Council
that Dore their appointed agent, and Representative of the Olu by their
own grace, was the overlord of the Agbarha people in respect of Agbarha
land in Warri Town. This same
Dore who was an impostor foisted on the Itsekiris was made to sign leases
in his personal name on behalf of the Chiefs and People of Warri, (the
Agbarha people) of Agbarha land to the British, whereas he was supposed
to be the personification of the Olu of the Itsekiris who owned all lands
in Warri, Even when Dore confessed that the Agbarha lands belonged to the
Agbarha people, and he had earlier ruled as President of his Native Court
of Appeal that neither the Itsekiris nor Sobos paid any tribute to each
other, the British still held that the Itsekiri Olu was overlord of Agbarha
land. Even when the overlordship
was whittled down and finally died, the ghost of this misnomer, this legal
contradiction still lingers in the corridors of power in Nigeria to deprive
the Agbarha people of their land and political rights. Successive Nigerian
Governments have turned deaf ears to the Urhobos and Ijaws of Warri who
still languish under the burden of political oppression.
Although history and subsequent legal
decisions have proven the Itsekiri claims to be false, although the Agbarha
and Okere Urhobos and the Ijaws are owners of their portions of settlement
long before the Itsekiris came on the scene and, in spite of the Land Use
Decree, 1978 and the Constitution of Nigeria 1979, this class of people
who are citizens of Nigeria are not recognized by Government although their
citizenship of Nigeria is because of their origin in Warri Local Government
Area. Neither are their ancestral
and presently occupied lands and houses located by government in any other
local government in Nigeria or any other part of Nigeria, yet successive
government seem to pretend that no problem exists when this class of citizens,
by government acquiescence and action, are denied their political rights
in their place of birth, without governments providing alternative solutions
for their plight of denial and deprivation. They
have all the obligations of citizenship but ad-hoc or even none of the
rights of citizenship.
As for the political situation, Mr.
Obiomah’s treatise is an indictment of Nigeria. Sooner
or later, Nigerians have to face up squarely to the responsibility of building
a Nation which they wrested from the British with all that is best and
worst in British Policy and Administration and, do justice to all the peoples
of Nigeria, if Nigeria is to be truly united and based on genuine freedom
and equality of treatment for all citizens.
Dr. Emmanuel Urhobo.
Warri, Nigeria