News Commentary

What Actually Happened At Okere Community On Saturday

Ola ‘Kiya, Reporting

AFTERNOON of Saturday, there was a news flash in two online media that Okere community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State was in a state of chaos and anarchy following an alleged shoot-out between some youths and soldiers.

The section of the media, later joined by a national medium, went further in its reportage that two persons were feared dead and several others injured.

The reports said the revered Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, was at the community to perform a function including giving a due rite to one of the ancestral deities when a section of the youths began to constitute a nuisance to the ceremony.

Prior to the event, the community youth executive has suffered a division with two factions emerging shortly after the ascension of the 21st Olu of Warri to his fathers’ throne. One of the factions is said to be loyal to the ousted Ologbotsere of Warri kingdom, Chief Ayirimi Emami, while the other is said to be behind the Warri monarch.

As a result, the town hall of the community was reportedly usurped by the ‘violent’ faction purportedly loyal to Chief Emami with the other faction resisting the move. Efforts to reconcile the warring youths executive were said to be at an advanced stage before the ousting of the Ologbotsere which further polarised the youths. They are said to be fighting the fight of their boss!

Our reporter, who was at the community between 7-8p.m on Sunday March 3, 2024, observed some genuine placidity and order in the community as against the purported tension portrayed in the media including social media.

The story of the two youths said to have been shot dead by soldiers drafted from the 3 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Effurun, appears to be untrue, though no official statement from any of the security agencies in that regard.

Relations of the purported deceased – Macaulay Uku and Daniel Grey – could not be traced as of Sunday evening, neither was any sign of mourning in the community noticed. However, some red beret police men on a patrol van were seen at intervals to keep an eye on the area.

Our reporter gathered that they are still after some of the boys who allegedly desecrated the Olu throne by hurling stones at him and his entourage while performing the ritual rites in the community hall.

It was gathered that during Olu’s visit on Saturday afternoon, he participated at a function being held near Okere Roundabout – just a stone throw to the community hall where the shine is enclaved. While this was ongoing, the factional youth executive said to be loyal to Chief Emami, took over a part of the premises of the community hall with a canopy and began to blare music to distract the Olu.

The security details, including soldiers of the Olu, were said to have met the youths to reduce the volume of their music and later prevailed on them to switch it off outright which they did. But no sooner the Olu was making his speech, than the recalcitrant youths went ahead to take the speaker near where the Olu was, switched on the music again and began to distract the event. The security operatives on ground, again, went to instruct the youths to halt the noise.

Thereafter, the Warri monarch was said to be headed to the community hall led by the community’s chief priest to pour libation and also pray for the community. While at the entrance of the shrine located inside one of the rooms in the hall (deities no longer abide in groves), the boys relocated to the back of a bungalow next to the one-storey community hall and began to pelt the crowd including their king!

It was gathered that the stones so hurled upon the crowd got some folks injured and, unable to take further insults in line with signals received from their superior, the armed soldiers took on the hoodlums some of whom in the process of escaping for dear lives also got bruised. Some were reportedly arrested, too, while efforts are said to be ongoing to apprehend other partakers in the show of shame.

Pronto, tranquility returned to the community and Ogiame Atuwatse III was able to perform his rite with the ritual object and not the anointing oil as reported in some media.

Though dark (as the NDDC or is it Oborevwori is yet to extend the solar-powered streetlights to the community and some adjoining parts), one could sight some shattered window louvres of the community hall, being the impact of the hurled stones upon the Olu and his entourage.

A homogenous ethnic nationality like the Itsekiri must know when to fight and when to unite. The ongoing war (of many battles) between Chief Emami and the Ogiame Atuwatse III, who has already consolidated his enthronement across the globe, should be laid to rest for the sake of Iwereland.

Speaking with the national president of the Itsekiri National Youths Council (INYC), Comrade Godwin Utienyin, who was on hand, he debunked the death of any person during the skirmish, challenging anyone with evidence to come to the public with it.

The unfortunate incident is coming less than a week after the AareOnakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, admonished the Itsekiri to unite and join hands with their royal stool to move Iwereland forward.

Though the AareOnakakanfo had decreed in his authority during his visit that enemies of Itsekiri will perish, the sons and daughters of Iwereland must constantly remember that when two brothers fight, a stranger reaps the harvest (apologies to Chinua Achebe).

It is sacrilegious for a group of subjects to continue to humiliate their symbol of essence and identity by hurling stones and expect others to hold them in high esteem. That’s self-delusion and the height of insanity! And this must stop!

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