| Urhobo Historical Society |
Mosogar, Omene,
Ekeh
and Urhobo History
By
O. J. Enitame
Effurun,
Published in The
Urhobo Voice, May 26, 2008 edition.
THE Urhobo Community,
Was Ekeh right in his worry?
Chief Joe Omene,
the President-General of Mosogar
Development Union,
feels he was wrong. In his reaction, published on the front page of The
Urhobo Voice, May 12, 2008, Omene left
the issues
and focused on Prof. Ekeh.
Omene said: “The man was not a good
story teller” because “the
word Mosogar and the word Idjerhe are not
the same.”
Neither Omene, the Mosogar
people, nor the Idjerhe people can comment on the rising list of Ivie.
This is because they are interested parties in this matter. It will
take
other
Urhobo people, the UHS is a part, to say whether the large number has
value or
not.
Is the Number of Ivie
Growing
in Urhobo?
There is the ‘Avwraka one’ hanging in
the air. The time may come when there would no longer be an Ovie
of Abraka title. There is, already, an Ovie
of Oruarivie-Abraka. That future would
have a separate Ovie
of Umiaghwa-Abraka title. A single Ovie
of Abraka title would die out to make way
for two Ivie.
That matter is in the
Physical Developments in Mosogar
One would have ignored him but
for his distortion of history, in
the bargain, while disagreeing with Prof. Ekeh. That was not all. Omene shot deliberately, without provocation, an
arrow at
Idjerhe. How? He taunted the Idjerhe people that “those who have the
means
should form a body to create employment that would develop Jesse in
order to
create employment for the youths, instead of dissipating energy on the
creation
of
The Idjerhe people are not
envious of Mosogar
people. Ekeh did not bother about the massive infrastructural
development in Mosogar. Let’s underline
one statement from Ekeh’s paper, which Omene
sidetracked. It said: “Urhobo history and culture were severely
violated in
what appears to be the uncontested act of ‘creating’ an Urhobo
‘kingdom’ by
Alleged Mosogar
People Coming Directly
from Agbarha-Otor
Omene said ‘‘Jesse and Mosogar came
together because the white man joined them together for administrative
convenience.” The colonialists did not put Idjerhe and Mosogar
together. The colonialists penetrated Urhobo land in the 1890s. Idjerhe
Clan
existed before their arrival. They also had meetings every 18-days at Otorho-Idjerhe,
which Mosogar
people attended, based on representations from the outer units
including Mosogar. The colonialists
wrapped up what was in existence
based on the same history Mosogar people
confirmed to
them. The colonialists did not create Idjerhe Clan. They listed and
accepted
what they met to work with.
If the ancestors of the Omenes were to
wake up from the grave, they would be surprised at the “modern” history
of Mosogar. The claim that Mosogar
came, independently, from Agbarha-Otor is
false. It
is a tale made in the 2nd half of the 20th century. It started in the
1950s but
documented in 1964 when Mosogar people
made “sole
claim” in court to what ought to be the Clan’s common wealth. It won at
the Sapele court but lost at the Supreme
Court (SC), as reported at
ANLR, 1972, 2nd edition, Vol: 224-232. Omene should please read the SC’s
findings and compare them with the “modern” history of Mosogar.
Depending with whom Mosogar has a case,
its history
shifts. Omene knows there are court cases
to show Mosogar’s galloping history. Leave
it there but if he
argues this, one will show, publicly, such cases.
There are two Intelligence
Reports (IRs)
on Idjerhe. These are (a) RJD Fremin 1931,
especially
pars. 16, 18-20, 35, 54, 57; and (b) RG Biddulph
1937, in particular, pars. 8, 19, 25-26. Mosogar
is
denying, today, its past in those 2 IRs. But if one searches deep,
there is
independent IR outside Idjerhe to show that the Omenes
are busy fabricating history. How? Neither Mosogar
people nor Idjerhe people were at Agbarha-Otor
in the
1930s to tell the Agbarha-Otor people what
to put in Ughelli’s IRs.
There are 3 known IRs on the larger Ughelli (Ogelle)
clan made up of Ogor, Agbarha,
Ughelli and Orogun
Clans. These are: P.V. Main, 1928; D.P. Stanfield,
1931; and E.R. Chadwick, 1932. None of the three IRs
recorded Mosogar’s autonomous migration
from Agbarha-Otor. Under “further
Migrations from Agbassah-Otor” at par. 33,
Stanfield said:
“At an unknown date the founder
of the Jesse Clan, (now in
The Agbarha-Otor
people gave this
independent history. They also approximated when Idjerhe and Oghara people left but we know that Idjerhe
eponymous
founder left before the Oghara people.
Mosogar was not listed in Ughelli’s
IRs. Mosgar
had no known
separate founder from other Idjerhe people. Why? All Mosogar
villages grew from distant farmlands from Otorho-Idjerhe.
Mosogar falls into what researchers and
historians
call indirect occupations. How did R.E. Bradbury describe such
settlements as Mosogar? In his book: The
Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria,
1957:129, he said they are:
“… Villages and hamlets formed
by
progressive proliferation from an original parent community.”
Otorho-Idjerhe is Mosogar’s
parent home and not Agbarha-Otor. The Omenes may get away with bastardisation
of history but it does not matter. These and some other shadows, to be
shown
shortly, are what Ibori and his friends in
Mosogar did not want to face at a
commission of Inquiry,
hence they avoided it.
The
Civilian Attempt at Clan
Creation
When the Olorogun F.O. Ibru’s Government
(1992-93) wanted to create seven Clans in
Delta state, it set up the Justice M.C.U. Odita
Commission of Inquiry, 1993, to examine the agitations. It was
announced at 8
p.m. news (Delta TV, Warri) on October 9,
1993. It
had not been sworn-in to commence work when the Sanni
Abacha Government struck, November 17,
1993. The
matter died there. The Ibru administration
had the
decency and intention to consult all stakeholders through Odita.
Compare Ibori.
It is just as well that the
same Ibru is
the current President-General of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU). So when Omene was rejoicing over Ibru’s
statement that so far “requirements” were met in Mosogar’s
creation, it is something else. It is not only Mosogar
people that are watching Olorgun Ibru’s
comment. Other Urhobo people and, indeed, Deltans
are
also alert. History waits and would document it.
The
Military Example at Clan
Creation
When the Ibrahim Kefas
Government, also in
Delta State, got request for the splitting of Avwraka
Clan, it set up the L.S. Nwafili
commission of
Inquiry, 1995. The commission collected oral and written evidence from
both
sides and recommended the separation of Avwrka.
Urhobo traditional rulers. under the
auspices of the Orodje of Okpe, Orhorho 1, mobilised the
Southern Delta Traditional Rulers Forum along with some Urhobo Ivie
and
went to Asaba. That
Forum halted Kefas, hence the white Paper
N0. 1 of 1996 rejected
the splitting of Avwraka. It does not
matter the
situation the Avwraka matter fell into,
later,
as discussed above. If the Orodje
were
to come
back today, he would congratulate Ekeh for his action and the stand
he has taken on Mosogar. I have not
expressed an
opinion. I am saying that
only outsiders can have a clear and unbiased view in what is occurring
in
Idjerhe and Mosogar.
The Uncontested “Act” of
Creating Mosogar
“kingdom’
Since the Omenes
are falsifying history,
you can never tell how they would, tomorrow, put the actual creation of
Mosogar into that history.
The
outsiders need the facts before the Omenes
start
twisting or polishing them. It was announced on September 28, 2006. It
was a
surprise to many people. The member representing Ethiope
west in Delta State House of Assembly (DSHA), Hon. A.O. Akpomiemie,
later moved a motion that Government’s act was irregular. The House saw
reason
and referred the matter to the committee on LG
chieftaincy affairs, presided over by Hon. Ovie Agas,
for evidence and public hearing. All of a sudden, unseen hands made the
House suspend its own rules and
stopped the Agas Committee. Ibori had in a
letter dated October 30, 2006, turned his announcement to a bill and
passed it
to the DSHA. After it had restrained its own committee, the full House
read the
bill for the second time on 22nd November 2006. Six days later,
November 28, it
passed the Bill. With the rush and non-hearing, it was clear that both
the DSHA
and Ibori did not want to listen to the
Idjerhe
people. A suit (HCH/50/2006) was filed at the Oghara
High Court (OHC) to restrain Governor Ibori
not to
attend to any Bill from the House on the creation. Justice D.C. Maidoh of the OHC signed the order on November
20, 2006. It
was served, thereafter, at the Government house, Asaba.
Ibori ignored and flouted that court order
and signed
Mosogar Clan into existence on December 6,
2006. Outsiders
would be right to wonder why the traditional and developmental
leadership in
Idjerhe, between late December 2006 and January 2007, withdrew that
case from
court.
Future Rifts
Mosogar requires, by the developmental
pace shown
by Omene, more than swimming pools and a
big palace.
Wealth creation there is high. It would need to care for the travel
desires of
the many rich people there. By the time Mosogar
finishes with rejoicing over how Ibori “dealt” with Idjerhe, land might become
scarce; it
would come for land expansion at the “border” with Idjerhe. Sure. It
may be
settled with the blood of people. But the Iboris
would have gone under, not to hear the cries of people. These would
have been
issues a commission of Inquiry should look at before making
recommendations.
Conclusion
Omene should have addressed the
issues raised
by the Urhobo Historical Society instead of attacking the person of
Prof. P. P.
Ekeh. For the glory of Chief Omene, I
remind
him that in
the timetable of the Heavenly Father, the 101 storey-building in