| Urhobo Historical Society |
Introduction
to Report of Tour of Branches, 1964,
by the President-General, Urhobo Progress
By
T.
E. A. Salubi
President-General
For many years it has been the expressed
wish
of the Union that the
President-General should visit the branches of the
I was elected President-General on 30:12:1961
- twenty days after
leaving my official desk on leave preparatory to retirement from the
Federal
Public Service. I needed time to settle my personal affairs at
Shortly after the population Census, a period
of Emergency was declared
on
In February, 1963, I went with Chief the
Honourable D. C. Osadebay on a
tour of
When the Governments of the Federation set up
a commission, now
popularly known as “Morgan Commission”, in October, 1963, I was
appointed a
Commissioner. The work of the Commission ran up to the end of April,
1964. In
the midst of it, I had to run for an election into the first
Mid-Western
Nigeria House of Assembly.
It was at the end of those series of events
that I could, as
President-General of Urhobo Progress Union, think of touring to the
branches of
the
I have purposely catalogued my major public
engagements from January,
1962, to April, 1964, in an attempt to show how difficult it could be
for any
person, especially one in public life, to make himself available for a
tour
such as the one under discussion. However, I was determined to have
rest for
the whole of May and to begin the tour in June, 1964.
By this time, two and a half out of my three
years tenure of office had
run out and I had only six months to do whatever I could by way of
touring.
Today, I am extremely happy to be easy as many people think. As I
write, there
are three branches north-east of Northern Nigeria, five branches in
Eastern
Nigeria and all the braches in Urhobo Divisions yet to be visited. And
what
about the eight branches in
Before commencement of the tours, the
following five branches, for
various reasons, telegraphed that they were not fit to be visited. They
were
Gbogan in Western Nigeria, and
Many local persons of importance were
introduced to me as Leaders of
the Branches. There was an approximate attendance of some 5,000 at the
29
meetings held. Practically everywhere, a group of happy dancers, mostly
women,
hailed me and my entourage. Altogether 195 gun salutes were fired by 10
braches
in the rural areas in honour of my visit. That was unbelievably so oven
under
difficult physical conditions. The £57 : 11 : 0, shown under column 9
of
appendix XIII was spent in the form of presents to those groups of
elegant
women dancers.
Without taking into account the mileage by a
second car, the tours
covered a distance of some 4,070 miles -- about 1,830 in the South and
2,240 in
the North. The tour of the North was a battle of great distance. While
the
average mileage to a branch was 448 in the North, it was only 59 in the
South!
More than 323 gallons of petrol and 6 ½ gallons of engine oil, both at
a cost
of £79 : 7 : 1d, were used throughout the tours. The largest single
item of
expenditure was on the care, maintenance and repair of vehicles. The
damage to
the Volkswagen and the heavy expenses on the repair of the
Altogether, I spent a total of £74 : 5: 6d
presented to the party by
branches as off set against that amount, there would, therefore, be a
net
expenditure of £272 : 8 : 4d. What is really important is that whatever
expenditure that was involved was incurred without any hope of
recovering it.
Before I set on the tour, I was fully aware that the
In order to make this report readable, I have
directed that it should
be written in a narrative form. I therefore sincerely hope that many
will find
it readable in spite of its length. With this same end in view, we have
tried
to include many minor but interesting facts and information, stating
them as
they vary from branch to branch.
In conclusion, I would fain to record my warm
thanks, gratitude and
appreciation to all who in their various capacities helped me to make
the tours
the great success that they certainly were. First among them is, of
course, my
devoted wife who is ever prepared to cater for my health and comfort
wherever I
may wish to go and under any circumstance. She is, by nature, a simple
woman
and has been accustomed to “hard-lying” from the time I was a Labour
Officer.
The commendation she earned from various people during the tours is a
glorious
testimony which any good wife must be proud of. I am most grateful to
her for
her ever-present affection and companionship.
Mr. Gordon Mukoro, the Under-Secretary and
Financial Secretary-General
of the
It is not often these days that one meets a
person who is not working
purely for remuneration and personal gains. Mr. Gordon Mukoro who
serves the
A group of members headed by Mr. T. Rerri,
the Principal Secretary,
accompanied me to Kwale and
Chief Udi Jeje of
My personal Secretary, Mr. Joseph (Omo)
Gbenedio; the two drivers,
Johnson Okpadanyota and John Oniogbo; and my two personal servants,
Loysius
Adjekpovu and John Evwianure, were of great assistance. They showed
enormous capacity
to take the brunt which occasionally came from me.
The last but by no means the least, I must
express profound gratitude
to all the branches, especially to such of their members as played
hosts to us.
Here I do not propose to single out branches or individuals, and I have
no
doubt that my reason for not wishing to do so will be fully understood.
Words are not adequate for me to describe
their generous hospitality to
me and my entourage. I felt extremely proud of all of them. My special
thanks
must go to the women who danced so beautifully for me. Some of them had
children on their back, some pregnant and yet they danced and danced
energetically, all because I came to see them.
May
God Bless All of them.
T. E. A. Salubi
President-General
29th,
September, 1964.