To Control Urhobo Culture and
Create �Kingdoms�
in Urhoboland
Introduction
There is a looming
cultural
crisis in Urhoboland that has been orchestrated by the Delta State
Government�s
attempt to control Urhobo culture and its institutions. This crisis has
arisen
directly from the action of the Delta State Government in proclaiming
that it
has created a new �kingdom� from Idjerhe, a subculture of Urhoboland.
�Kingdom�
is a new term that has been used since the late 1990s as a replacement
for the
British Colonial term �clan� which was a translation of the Urhobo
expressions ubrotọ, ẹkuotọ, and ẹkpotọ.
Each of these Urhobo
words means a fraction of Urhoboland and refers to the twenty-two
sub-cultures
which constitute Urhoboland and its multiplex culture.
A major attack on
the edifice
of Urhobo culture was introduced in the Delta State House of Assembly
in
October 2006 in the form of a letter from the Office of the Governor of
the
State asking the Delta State House of Assembly to convert the
Governor�s
previous unilateral announcement of creation of �
It is significant
that there
was no consultation by the Delta State Government with the Idjerhe
people
before this high-handed bill was introduced into the Delta State House
and
before it was withdrawn from the Chieftaincy Committee and forced unto
the
whole House of Assembly for an unstudied vote. Nor did the Governor or
Delta
State Government consult with Urhobo Progress Union whose cardinal
mission is
to protect Urhobo culture. It is further significant that those Idjerhe
and
Urhobo interests who were aware of the machination to use the power of
Delta
State Government to illegitimately ram through this ruse to partition
Idjerhe
sub-culture of Urhoboland vigorously opposed it. Sadly, they were
overpowered
by the raw forces of politics in the Delta State Government.
An Urhobo cultural
creed,
which has been practiced from ancient times, is that each of the
constituent
twenty-two subcultures of Urhoboland is entitled to no more than one
king. But
the Delta State Government has gone ahead to install a second king in
Idjerhe
and is now threatening to share Idjerhe�s lands between this new
�kingdom,� its
creation, and the rest of ancient Idjerhe.
We fear that the
Idjerhe
cultural fiasco is the beginning shot in a clear attempt to maim
Urhobo�s
culture and all its potentials. We fear that this destructive action by
the
Delta State Government will be forced on other sub-cultures of
Urhoboland, as
more �kingdoms� are orchestrated by the Government and imposed on
Urhobos. We
fear that this action of Delta State Government will lead to widespread
cultural chaos and the disintegration of Urhoboland. That is why we are
opposed
to these hostile actions of the Delta State Government against Urhobo
culture.
We wish to explain our grounds for fearing the worst, to the Urhobo
people; to
Urhobo Progress Union, their umbrella organization; and to our fellow
Nigerians.
Our
Grounds for
There are numerous
reasons
why the hostile action of the Delta State Government in its �kingdom�
creation
exercise in Urhoboland should be challenged and rejected by the Urhobo
people
and all fair-minded lovers of indigenous cultures. Some of these
reasons should
be obvious. Others are more subtle but very important nonetheless. In
what
follows, we state serious factors and grave consequences that we
believe will
flow from the obvious attempt by the Delta State Government to single
out
Urhobo culture for its control and management.
(1)
Disruption of Historic Orderly Interactions between Urhobo Cultural
Units and
Foreign and Nigerian Governments
All
the twenty-two sub-cultures of Urhoboland are prehistoric. They were
already in
their various locations before the rise of the Benin Empire in the
1440s and
before the arrival of Portuguese explorers in the Western Niger Delta
in the
1480s. Interactions between the Urhobo people and foreign governments
were
largely based on recognition of these twenty-two sub-cultures of
Urhoboland.
The rulers and administrators of the Benin Empire, under the kings of
Eweka
dynasty, interacted with Urhobo communities on the clear recognition of
many of
these sub-cultures. Similarly, various agencies of the
It
is significant that neither the authorities of the Benin Empire nor
those of
British colonial administrations ever attempted to alter the units of
Urhobo
sub-cultures. All these respected the integrity of Urhobo culture, with
its
sub-cultures, and interacted with the Urhobo people within the
framework and
logic of their own culture and its units.
Nigerian
Governments that followed British colonial rule similarly had high
regard for
Urhobo culture and its units. Thus, despite its historic difficulties
with the
Urhobo people, the Action Group Government of Western Nigeria
(1952-1964), did
not undermine the integrity of Urhobo�s sub-cultures. The Mid-West
Government
and
In
sharp contrast to all the above instances of orderly interactions,
across many
centuries, between Urhobo and various Governments, domestic and
foreign, Delta
State Government now seeks to seize the management of Urhobo culture.
It has
begun to restructure Urhobo�s sub-cultures through the artifact of the
creation
of �kingdoms� in Urhoboland. What makes this action of Delta State
Government
so odd is that it breaks away from a pattern and tradition of
governments that
for centuries respected the integrity of Urhoboland and its
sub-cultures.
(2)
Clans versus Kingdoms:
In
historical scholarship, clans and kingdoms are regarded as opposite
phenomena.
A clan is an organization that traces its origin to a single ancestor
and
occupies a common land. As such, a clan is limited in scope. Clans are
usually
related to other clans, all of which share common traditions and a
language of
a more inclusive cultural whole. On the other hand, kingdoms are larger
organizations that do not necessarily respect the ethics of clans. Many
kingdoms in history (e.g.,
One
would have expected a modern government to understand the lessons of
history
with regard to the fact that kingdoms are larger organizations than
clans.
Instead, Delta State Government seems to regard as progress the
breaking up of
a clan into two parts and then naming each of them a kingdom! The
Idjerhe
people are satisfied to regard themselves as an Urhobo sub-culture, or
clan,
with an illustrious and cohesive history. Without their consent, Delta
State
Government has now said that it has created a �kingdom� from Idjerhe
lands.
There is very little doubt in the minds of opinion leaders of the
Urhobo people
that the Idjerhe experiment is a beginning act and that the Delta State
Government has a clear design to fragment Urhobo culture by breaking up
existing historic sub-cultural entities of Urhoboland into artificial
�kingdoms.�
(3)
Balkanization of Urhobo Culture and Impending De-development of
Urhoboland
Balkanization
is a process of fragmenting a political or cultural whole into smaller
units
that turn out to be unstable and to be hostile towards one another.
Coined from
experiences of disintegration in the Balkans in Central Europe,
Balkanization
has led to the dismemberment of
(4)
Targeting of Urhobo Leadership as an Act of Cultural Genocide against
the
Urhobo People
Since
the inception of a new civilian regime in
Such
circumstances have adversely affected the total quality of Urhobo
leadership.
As long as these incidents affect individuals, the foundation of Urhobo
leadership remains intact. However, this recent attempt by the Delta
State
Government to restructure Urhobo cultural units will affect Urhobo
leadership
at its foundation, with traumatic consequences. Urhobos recruit their
leadership from the sub-cultural level. This attempt to break up
Urhobo�s
sub-cultural units into smaller �kingdoms,� which will have no cultural
foundations, will weaken the quality and legitimacy of Urhobo
leadership in a
severe manner.
These
various hostile acts against the Urhobo people and their ancient
culture
constitute what is clearly recognized as cultural
genocide in Article 7 of the United
Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (26
August
1994). It is best that the Urhobo people understand these looming
dangers and
immediately take decisive actions that will forestall their full impact.
(5)
Why Is
The
most remarkable aspect of the �kingdom� creation exercise embarked upon
by the
Delta State Government is that it is exclusive to Urhobo. If
�kingdoms,� as
defined by the Delta State Government, are so valuable, then why
restrict the
exercise of their creation to Urhoboland? If �kingdoms� are public
goods that
the Delta State Government wants to hand out to ethnic nationalities of
the
State, why would not such other areas of the State as Asaba and
Itsekiri
receive their own shares of these new �kingdoms� created on the pages
of
Government gazettes? The old Delta Province of Colonial Nigeria had
five ethnic
nationalities -- Ijaw, Isoko, Itsekiri, Ukwuani, and Urhobo. All of
these have
been incorporated into the new
We
are confident in our judgment that Asaba, Itsekiri, and all other
ethnic
nationalities of
(6)
Lack of Legal Basis for
�Kingdoms�
are the new names for what were called clans in Urhoboland up until the
late
1990s. When, therefore, the Delta State Government says that it has
created a
new �kingdom� in Idjerhe sub-culture of Urhoboland, its claim extends
to
territory; linguistic dialect; ancestral shrine; history of conquest of
a
unique area of the rainforest of the Western Niger Delta; and all other
attributes of Urhobo�s sub-cultures. It is these attributes that make
up Urhobo
culture.
We have searched in vain
for the source of the legal authority by which the Delta State
Government seeks
to create new kingdoms (or clans) out of existing sub-cultures (or
clans) of
Urhoboland. We find no such authority -- not in the statutes,
not in
the laws and not in the Constitution of the Nigerian
state. As
one reads these documents embodying the statutes, the laws and the
Constitution, one comes to the clear conclusion that no government in
the
Federal Republic of Nigeria -- not the Federal Government,
and most
assuredly not the state governments, including the Delta State
Government
-- has the authority to create kingdoms or clans out of sub-cultures
(or clans)
of Urhoboland or anywhere else. In view of this plain and very
simple
fact, to proceed as the Delta State Government evidently seeks to do,
would be
to violate the very laws of the land it purports to govern. Given
the rough and tumble of the peculiar strain of politics in
Our
Appeal
It is on the
grounds of the
objections listed above that Urhobo Historical Society makes the
following
appeals:
(1) To
Delta State Government: We
appeal to the Delta State Government to
rescind its
�kingdom� creation exercise and restore the integrity of Idjerhe as an
Urhobo
sub-culture and the integrity of Urhobo culture which would be
adversely
affected by the Government�s attempt to create what amounts to a �clan�
in
Urhoboland. The Urhobo people neither want nor need more clans (or
�kingdoms�)
in Urhoboland. They regard such an action of creating a new clan (or
�kingdom)
in Urhoboland as utterly destructive. Our sub-cultures have been
fine-tuned
from pre-historic times and have served the Urhobo people quite well.
We want
the Delta State Government to follow the good examples of all previous
Governments,
foreign and domestic, with which the Urhobo people have had to deal:
they
respected the integrity of Urhobo culture. Governments are created to
serve the
interests of the people, not to intimidate them and control their
culture. Let
the Delta State Government raise its standards to those of previous
administrations who were once privileged to be called Governments in
our region
in past centuries and decades.
(2) To the
Urhobo People: Urhobo has
twenty-two sub-cultures.
Traditionally, in
Urhobo language, the Urhobo expressions of ubrotọ,
ẹkuotọ, and ẹkpotọ
were used to refer to these units of Urhobo culture. During Colonial
Rule, the
British called them �clans,� a term that survived up until the late
1990s.
Since then, some have called them �kingdoms.� We call them sub-cultures
in this
document. All the twenty-two sub cultures of Urhoboland are closely
related.
They are fractions of the Urhobo whole. What affects the integrity of
one will
affect the whole that is Urhobo culture. It is therefore a misguided
point of
view to regard the so-called creation of a �kingdom� from Idjerhe
sub-culture
as a local matter. On the contrary, it is a major problem whose
consequences
will spread to the rest of Urhoboland. No sub-culture of Urhoboland �
not even
the large ones of Agbon, Okpe, and Ughelli � will be safe from the
ravages of
this �kingdom� creation craze.
Urhobo
Historical Society therefore appeals to all Urhobos to take any
appropriate
steps that will ensure that this pernicious exercise is halted. Talk to
those
of your representatives who will listen to you. Ask them to put
pressure on the
Delta State Government to listen to the Urhobo people and reverse the
Government�s dangerous course in this issue. Above all, make your views
on this
matter known to Urhobo Progress Union. It was the best hope of the
Urhobo
People for resolving their collective crises in past decades. It is
still in a
strong position to serve the interests of the Urhobo people. Let UPU
leaders
apply all their persuasive powers to convince the Delta State
Government that
Urhobos will not accept the �kingdom� creation exercise that the
Government
wants to impose on the Urhobo People.
| Signed: |
Peter P. Ekeh
Chairman
Isaac
James Mowoe
Deputy
Chairman
Onoawarie Edevbie
Secretary
Chief
S. S. Obruche
Coordinator
On Behalf of Urhobo Historical
Society
Email: UrhoboHistory@waado.org
May 24, 2008