FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND MEETING
London, England
October 31 - November 2, 2003
URHOBO
UNITY AND LEADERSHIP
By Emmanuel Urhobo, Ph.D.
INTRODUCTION
Chairman,
distinguished guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen:
Once again I have the privilege to attend
this annual conference. The theme of
this years Conference, is most appropriate.
We need to make a critical evaluation of the causes of Urhobo
disunity
and lack of good leadership as a people and a nation, if we are to
build a
viable future for the Urhobo nation. I
will attempt here only a modest contribution from my knowledge
information, and
experience in the last 26 years of my permanent residence in Warri
while
interacting with Urhobo people inside and outside the 8 Urhobo Local
Government
Council areas and beyond them.
In my view, the
Urhobo people have not created a particularly good image of themselves
despite
their numbers, their relationships with other ethnic groups and the
important
position they occupy in
The Urhobo Nation
is a disaggregated body of twenty-two sub-national groups independently
established
and motivated. Leadership was extremely
conservative, privately arranged, and tied to the past.
A leader retained his position until death
whatever his level of competence, state of his health or age.
The Urhobo people
founded the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) early, in about 1925, in the
last
century. That was earlier than the advent of the Ibos� late Dr. Nnamdi
Azikwe�s
into Nigerian affairs from
In the post-Mukoro
era, with few exceptions, the leadership of the Urhobo nation under the
UPU
hardly ever called an annual conference, although its constitution
provides for
it. The UPU takes its decisions secretly
and any one who has any contrary view is met with a declaration of
�Urhobo
tanure� [meaning: Urhobo has spoken] and he is thereafter cajoled into
silence
or subjected to blackmail by the leadership.
Its leadership never exposed themselves to re-election, hence in
recent
years there was an attempt to appoint in succession three leaders
(Chief
Edewor, General Ejoor and finally Chief
Benjamin Okumagba) as Presidents while the incumbent Dr. Esiri, who is
now over
90 years of age, is still very much alive and has neither
resigned nor had been removed
constitutionally.
The UPU under the
leadership of Late Chief Mukoro Mowoe (a self educated person and an
influential businessman) was effective in uniting the Urhobo Nation and
representing the people successfully during the colonial period. After his death in 1948, the Urhobo people
and the UPU seems to have waned in influence due to the absence of
effective
leadership. I submit therefore that the
UPU is not the modern medium through which either unity or leadership
can be
achieved. It should be left to die a
natural death.
Although the
UPU claims to be apolitical, in recent times it always mobilizes its
support
for any favoured Urhobo leader seeking political office at the last
minute. That was how the Urhobo support
for Chief James Onanefe Ibori, was advertised in the National Papers,
two days
before the general election of April, 2003.
On the other hand,
the Urhobo people revel in the proliferation of social clubs inside and
outside
the area inhabited by them. They are in
all parts of
A particularly
puzzling characteristic of the Urhobo people is that they seem to lack
courage
and boldness in matters of wider dimensions and are relatively
indifferent to
the selection or appointment of their leaders.
Leadership outside the UPU had been left to anyone who aspired
to it
with his wealth. The reasons for this
behaviour also have to be identified in the course of uniting the
Urhobo Nation
and selecting its leadership. For
instance, in the Shagari-era (1979 � 1983), there were 13 Urhobo
members in the
Bendel State House of Assembly out of a total of 60 members. Because
Urhobos
were in the Opposition, they had little impact. The only member from
Warri had
a first hand experience of the attitude of the Urhobo legislators who
were too
eager not to offend the government of the day, or cause any waves in
the
Assembly and were preoccupied with receiving gifts from the UPN
Governor rather
than standing firm for the NPN and Urhobo cause.
In my view, the
Urhobo people always seem to act as pacifists even when their rights
are being
eroded away and they are being subjected to open insults and campaigns
of
calumny against them in documents, and speeches circulated inside and
outside
In President
Obasanjo�s Governments 1999 � 2003 and now 2003 � 2007 no Urhobo man or
woman
was appointed a Federal Minister while some nationalities had up to
three or
more in the Federal Cabinet. The Urhobo
Nation did not benefit from the �Federal
Character� principle in Federal patronage. Why
Urhobo is not influential in the
Obasanjo�s Government of the PDP in spite of having an Urhobo
controlled
government and Governor in Delta Sate?
This is a question to which we need some answers.
Only in 1999 with
the emergence of Chief Onanefe Ibori has the Urhobo Nation controlled
any
government since 1960 where Urhobo interests have been represented,
though not
fully. But for the personal influence
and wealth of Chief Onanefe Ibori, the Urhobo Nation would have been in
a very
sorry state today. Unfortunately also
today, the Urhobo Nation is caught in the same self-destructive policy
of its
past narrow-minded leadership which nearly lost Chief Onanefe Ibori his
re-election for the 2nd term.
It is the Urhobo people acting as principals or agents who are
leading
the campaign that Chief Ibori is not Urhobo but Itsekiri.
This brings back to memory Chief Okotie-Eboh
who was rejected by the Urhobo leadership even though he was in the
same party
NCNC with them. He had to join
forces
with the Itsekiris against the Urhobos with very grave consequences to
the
Urhobo national interest. In a country
that is so strikingly corrupt, the Urhobo people must come together to
protect
their interest irrespective of who is in power now, and improve its
system from
within as it goes along.
The Urhobo people
are today divided about whether Warri belongs to the Urhobo Nation or
to the
Itsekiris, in spite of the fact that history shows that it is the
Urhobos who
founded and built Warri before the Itsekiris came anywhere near Warri. No other ethnic group could have been so
indifferent about the ownership of Warri, if they had even one-tenth of
the
Urhobo claims to Warri. We need to know
why there is no aggressive Urhobo leadership willing to claim and
defend its
heritage, even when the UPU leadership is based in Warri.
Warri is an integrated part of the Urhobo
Nation and economy. For the Urhobo
Nation to move forward it has to claim its rights and be proud of its
heritage.
To understand why
the Urhobo as a people and a nation behaves so independently without a
common
leadership and purpose, one has to go back to the origin and
composition of the
twenty-two sub-nationalities which are linked ethically to the Edo
speaking
peoples (including Ishans), Ibos, and Ijaws and lately to the Itsekiris
and the
colonial experience of the Urhobo people and the UPU.
The Urhobo link
with the Itsekiri is entirely destructive of Urhobo personality and
interests. Itsekiri middle-men traders
along the Urhobo riverine hinterland established trading posts along
the rivers
and creeks and married out of necessity and condescension Urhobo women
because
they were loyal, hardworking and less promiscuous than Itsekiri women. The Itsekiris used these relationships as
middle men traders and Urhobos in-law to their maximum benefit and
treacherously undermined Urhobo national interests by maligning and
black-mailing the Urhobos, and obtaining special favours from the
colonial
authorities and successive Nigerian governments up till date. There are no rational explanations for this
timidity or reluctance on the part of the Urhobo people to engage in an
exercise to clear their name and assert their authority.
But for the advent
of the Urhobo Historical Society, Urhobo defence and the correct
picture of the
Urhobo Nation as a peaceful and legitimate dominant group in Delta
State, would
have been obliterated by the well financed superior propaganda of the
Itsekiri
leadership which is beamed continuously
all over the world to heads of governments and political organisation,
falsely
depicting the Urhobo people as villains
bent on exterminating the Itsekiri people.
I have deliberately
devoted the major part of this paper to highlighting what I perceive as
Urhobo
weaknesses and the reasons for its disunity and lack of leadership so
that
experts would have the benefit of as full information as possible in
tackling
the problems, resolving the issues and making recommendations that will
unite
Urhobo nation and produce good leadership.
What then
Are the Solutions to the Lack of Urhobo Unity and
Leadership?
It would be an
oversimplification to attempt in a few pages here to offer solutions to
these
age-old problems. A good deal of work
has to be undertaken by a few volunteer
dedicated Urhobo professionals and specialists in various fields
of
studies, together with other eminent Urhobo personalities who, working
together, should carefully analyse the past, understand and assess the
present and make practical
recommendations on how the Urhobo Nation can be efficiently organised
to unite
the people together, produce a
leadership and a National leader with his executives, who
would run the Urhobo Nation�s machinery of
government, to project its image and implement its programmes for its
survival
as an independent unit within the
Nigerian Federation.
The task, in my
view, is for this group of people to identify, and focus their
attention on,
three major areas and make recommendations on how to implement them and
achieve
the desired objectives of unity and leadership and a secure future for
the
Urhobo people.
1.
A Political Adminsitration for the
Urhobo Nation:
It is
imperative that an administration of the 22 Urhobo clans and its
traditional
institutions be established, without which, it would be impossible to
unite the
Urhobo people into one effective indivisible nation.
The Urhobo people have the advantage of being
ethnically linked with nearly every other sub-national group in
2.
Political, Economic and Social
Planning:
My
understanding of world political and socio-economic order,
particularly in the developing world and especially
It
is a matter of survival therefore for the Urhobo nation to embark
now on its own political and economic, programmes and projects, if it
ever
hopes to survive in this inequitable system called
The
objective of the Urhobo Nation must be political/economic
self-determination, and
self-sufficiency. Its programs must include educational institutions
including
universities, technical/management and financial institutions, economic
projects like agro-industries, petrochemical industries to capture the
Nigerian
market and particularly exports. A major
aspect of its objectives must be to coordinate technical assistance for
infrastructure and health and other service projects from internal and
external
sources, making use of all available, public, private financial
assistance
including NGO�S.
3.
Political Leadership and a Leader
Political
leadership would emerge from the above two exercises if the Urhobo
Nation can
establish one administration for the Urhobo Nation�s twenty-two
sub-national
groups and its traditional institutions and can establish a political
and economic organization with clearly
defined
and operational objectives. A leadership
will then emerge from which a national leader would be selected by the
Urhobo
Nation to work with its executives down the line to the local community
and
family units. It should be a deliberate
policy of leadership by selection, over a definite period of time.
The selection
of the leaders and a National leader and his cabinet should be based on
very
strict principles which must include a thorough investigation into:
(1)
A candidate�s paternal and material
origin.
(2)
The environment of his upbringing.
(3)
His educational and academic
qualifications.
(4)
His work experience.
(5)
His relationship with various groups and
associations.
(6)
His past involvements, contributions and
expressed views on Urhobo
matters.
(7)
His stature an exposure in life.
(8)
An assessment of the
degree of his boldness and courage in the face of difficulties.
(9)
His commitment to Urhobo
National causes and above all else.
(10)
His vision of the Urhobo
as a nation.
(11)
Wealth should not be a
criterion for selection but a candidate must be a person of substance
i.e.
(modest means) as a professional, a top civil servant or any person who
had
excelled himself in nay reputable and gainful employment over a period
of at
least 20 years.
The selection
of Urhobo leaders in the past had not been based on any of these
criteria but
has been an imposition on the people by a few.
It is imperative
that a bold step should be taken by the Urhobo nation now to initiate a
political and social revolution in Nigeria which will stimulate smaller
nationalities to action and reverse the present Nigerian Equation of
the three
largest groups dominating the minority nationalities, which (majority
form the
real majority), and the monopolising of political and economic power in
the
Nigerian Federation leading it into Bankruptcy.
The Urhobo
Nation has only one year to work and two years to implement its
decisions. After that, is the year of
uncertainty for
I honestly
believe the search for Urhobo unity and leadership must take the form
of some
urgent, bold and decisive steps such as the ones I have proposed here,
otherwise we will end up only brainstorming, write a report, hold
further
conferences and get no where while the time is running out.
LONG
LIVE THE URHOBO
PEOPLE AND THE URHOBO NATION !
AND LONG LIVE URHOBO HISTORICAL
SOCIETY!