Saturday 2nd of September, 2023, the Itsekiri ethnic nationality took their collective destiny in their own hands and converged in their numbers to attend an emergency meeting at Rice Farm along Esisi road GRA Warri in Delta State to review critical issues in respect of the collective survival and continuous existence of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality with a view to lay a new foundation that will engender the much needed peace, security, collective prosperity, infrastructural development in Iwereland and to chat a new course for themselves and generations unborn in line with the vision and plans of the Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse lll CFR from the very first day he ascended the pristine and ancient throne of his forefathers as encapsulated in his inaugural speech on August 21st, 2021 at Ode-Itsekiri Olu, Itsekiri nation ancestral headquarters that was watched across the globe.
2. The emergency meeting was conveyed and presided over by the Ologbotsere of Warri, and Chairman, Warri Council of Chiefs, Chief (Engr.) Oritsema Oma Eyewuoma. In attendance were highly respected and prominent Itsekiri sons and daughters from all walks of life. The gathering included but was not limited to prominent Palace Chiefs of Ogiame Atuwtse III, the Olu of Warri, Olare-Ajas of various Itsekiri ancestral communities, members of the Ginuwa I Ruling House, community leaders, community Trust Executives Committee members and their leaders, various Itsekiri community youth executives, and associations, Itsekiri socio-cultural organizations, students, graduates/professional associations, political leaders, legal practitioners of Itsekiri extractions, distinguished Itsekiri from the business and academic sector, clergymen/women, leaders of various Itsekiri pressure groups/social media platforms and their members, opinion leaders, market men and women associations, press men and women etc, all defiled the heavy down pour to come together to discuss and chat a new course for the Itsekiri ethnic nationality. The emergency meeting which was earlier announced in the day across various social media platforms, was also streamed live and Itsekiris sons and daughters outside Warri and across the globe also joined virtually to contribute and give their unalloyed and unflinching support to the wave of positive change sweeping across Itsekiri land since His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse lll CFR came and also took turns to roundly support the decisions and resolutions reached at the end of the deliberation from their respective bases with great relief and excitement.
3. After over three (3) hours of an exhaustive deliberation which afforded various Itsekiri sons and daughters to speak their minds and openly denounced the ugly status quo and manner in which the collective affairs and resources of the Itsekiri people have been mindlessly pilfered, and squandered by some sets of individuals in recent times to the detriment of the Itsekiri people, they stated that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. The gathering agreed speaker after speaker in lamentable tunes that they had seen enough and that the bad leadership structure that has managed the collective wealth of the Itsekiri people have failed woefully to improve the lives of the Itsekiri people and their Communities. Those who spoke stated one after the other while sharing the tales of woes that the bad and corrupt leadership system the Olu is trying to put an end to in Iwereland have subjected them to, said they have been waiting for so long praying to God Almighty in heaven for a day such as they have witnessed to come so that they can be set free from the inhuman and degrading treatment they have been facing for so many years before now in Itsekiri nation.
4. They concluded that the situation has plunged the Itsekiri nation into a sad state of despondency, hopelessness, abject poverty and misery in the midst of abundant opportunities, gross and unprecedented under development, massive and unacceptable level of unemployment of Itsekiri sons and daughters despite the huge resources and presence of various multinationals oil companies in Iwereland, the gathering came to a final resolution to stand up together as one strong force to vehemently resist and crush anything that will henceforth stand in their way to break the old chains and shackles of stagnation foisted upon the Itsekiri people without their consent by a handful of individuals who have for long continued to constitute themselves as a clog in the wheel of progress of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality.
5. With one voice, they were heard loud and clear as they unanimously pledged their undivided loyalty and strong support to their revered monarch, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwtse III CFR, in all his quests to work together with the government at all levels and other critical stakeholders to turn around the fortune of the Itsekiri people for the collective good of all itsekiris. The Itsekiri people vowed never again to allow the golden and new opportunity that has been provided by the good policy of the federal government, the state government and other critical stakeholders through the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021and the Host Community Trust Development Fund for the transformation of Iwereland to be hijacked by any sets of anti Itsekiri forces as has been the case in the past where huge opportunities that could have been utilized to make Itsekiri nation greater were wasted. The final resolutions of the emergency meeting was openly declared by the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom, and Chairman, Warri Council of Chiefs Chief (Engr) Oritsema Oma Eyewuoma, is set forth hereunder as follows:
5. “We thank everyone for defiled the heavy down pour to answer our call to attend this emergency meeting despite the very short notice. Itsekiri thank all those who worked behind the scene to make today’s gathering a success. From this gathering today, we resolved that whatever His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwtse III, the Olu of Warri has put together with the active participation of Itsekiri communities will stand. We will not change it. Should anybody, should the Settlors out of the fear of blackmail change what itsekiris and their king has put together, Itsekiri as a nation and group, will not just shut down one flowstation, we will shut down all flowstations. We will shut down all facilities. And we know how to do this because, we have people who have spent all their lives working in the oil industry and they know what to do. And we will shut down all facilities should we be ignored. We have also resolved that the era where a handful of people takeover the assets, the wealth of the Itsekiri people and make it personal, has ended. We will go after all our assets and the monies that a handful of people have always been cornering for themselves to the detriment of the generality of Itsekiri people. That also will stop.
Itsekiri will enjoy their own wealth, their own assets. We are not stopping those doing their own business. What we are saying is that you can no longer carry the wealth of all itsekiris and make it your own. Itsekiri wealth must be for the Itsekiri people”.He stated.
6. The Ologbotsere of Warri, and Chairman, Warri Council of Chiefs, Chief Eyewuoma, was flanked to his right and left by other prominent Palace Chiefs during the emergency meeting amongst whom are, Chief Gabriel Awala, the Uwangue of Warri, Chief Tony Onuwaje, the Otsodi of Warri, Chief Brown Mene, the Ogwaolusan of Warri, Chief Dr. Roland Oritsejafor, the Ogwa of Warri, Chief (Sir) P.D. Yalaju, the Kenekuniraro of Warri, Chief Francis Omatseye, the Edigbe of Warri , Chief Madam Roli Oritsejafor, the Iyeolumaete of Warri, Chief Billy Besigiwa, the Osolo of Warri Chief Mrs Mercy Olowu, the UtukpaOritse Erin of Warri, Chief Chief Omulubi Newuwumi, the Oma Tamudenyin of Warri, Chief Mrs Elizabeth Okotie-Eboh, the Iye of Warri, Chief Walter Omatshola Boyo, Chief JFK Omatsone, the Olutimeyin of Warri, Chief Wilson Olley Edun, the Abuoludero of Warri, and Chief S K. Omabeyinje, the Olugbo of Warri.
7. It was also revealed during the emergency meeting that the former Executive Governor of Delta State, an illustrious Itsekiri son, in the person of His Excellency, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has been very concerned with the state of affairs of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality and has been meeting privately with a selected Itsekiri sons and daughters who are leaders and critical stakeholders in Itsekiri nation with a view of bringing all ITSEKIRIS together to make sure the new narrative the Olu has chatted for the collective interest of the Itsekiri nation succeeds. Some of those who have been meeting privately with the former governor to join the Olu and his Chiefs to move Itsekiri forward were also announced in the meeting.
8. The level of rot and heartrending state of quagmire the Itsekiri people have been long subjected to was received with much anger and a desire to fight for their freedom when it was revealed in the course of the discussion that about 125M naira of Itsekiri ethnic nationality money in the Delta State Oil Producing Development Commission (DESOPADEC) is being collected by Mr Michael Diden Ejele monthly since 2006 when ex governor Chief James Onanefe Ibori brought the Commission in 2006. It was further revealed that the same Ejele collected this same amount of money during Governor Uduaghan tenure, Governor Okowa tenure and the money was only recently stopped by the efforts of the Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse lll CFR who insisted that monies running into billions of naira that ought to be used to improve the lives of the common Itsekiri man and transform all Itsekiri ancestral homeland into developed cities as it is in other oil producing counties around the world can no longer be squandered while his subjects remain in penury.
9. The current DESOPADEC monthly fund belonging to the Itsekiri ethnic nationality that the Olu has succeed in stopping from being paid out to those who have been channelling Itsekiri common patrimony into their private pockets is put at a whooping 135M naira monthly. If we are to calculate this sum of money that these sets of persons named in the emergency meeting as the brains behind the callousness, the source of Itsekiri problems and ugly situation can easily be traced This is the reason why the situation must change if Itsekiri nation must survive and see the concomitant benefits from the PIA otherwise, we are doomed they gathering agreed. This kind of cesspool corruption and wicked destructive leadership system is what the entire Itsekiri people have come together together to critically sit down and reviewed and have decided to cue behind their intelligent and brilliant Olu who has already mapped out a very clear template called the “Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality Development Charter”to use the PIA in collaboration with the nominated representatives from the Itsekiri oil bearing communities to redirect the fortune of the Itsekiri people to the land of collective prosperity. The Itsekiri people have come out to declare that they will NEVER allow anybody to mismanage the Itsekiri money in the Host Community Trust Development Fund in the PIA contrary to the good intentions of their king and the government. They have therefore used the emergency meeting to send a very strong message that anyone who tries to compromise or truncate the good plans of the Olu, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse lll CFR for them and the unborn Itsekiri generations to come, should be prepared to face the fire consequences of their actions. Itsekiri nation have ONLY ONE KING AND SOLE AUTHORITY WHO GOVERN THEIR COLLECTIVE INTEREST. WHATEVER THE OLU SAYS IS WHAT BINDS THE ITSEKIRI PEOPLE WORLDWIDE.
A WORD THEY SAY, IS ENOUGH FOR THE WISE.
Comrade Aderojor James Ologhojoba Ereku,
Personal Assistant to the Ologbotsere of Warri,
Dated this 3rd day of September, 2023.
For the attention of :
(a) All arms of governmentboth at the Federal, State, Local Government and the International Community.
(b) All Settlors and oil companies operating in Iwereland and all relevant agencies both in the upstream and downstream petroleum industry in Nigeria including all regulatory agencies in the oil industry.
(c) All relevant security agencies.etc.
