Itsekiri Historical Front Response Regarding the Ekpenede History of Okere that is claimed to be a fabrication by some social media rascals, headed by one Ejiro Imuere,
Okere Community was founded by Ekpenede, a general in the Oba of Benin’s Army. Ekpen was sent by the Bini Chiefs whose sons, numbering about seventy, were on the entourage of Olu Ginuwa 1, when the latter set out from Benin about the middle of the fifteenth century to found his own kingdom at the behest of his father, Oba Olua.
While Ginuwa settled at Ijala, Ekpen and his retinue encamped at the place now known as Ogunu in Warri, and later some of them moved further inland to found and settle at Okere around 1497.
R.E Bradbury, a European historian, in his book “The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-speaking peoples of South-western Nigeria” (pp 180), testifies to the founding of Okere by a part of the Benin army sent after Ginuwa.
Also, William Moore, in his book “History of the Itsekiri”, affirms that Okere was indeed founded in the last decade of the 15th century by Ekpen. (William Moore book is paraded by Ejiro Imuere as an authority, yet he always exclude the part of Okere community)
John. W. Hubbard, another European historian, in his book “The Sobo of the Niger Delta”, pages 6 to 7, states inter alia… “In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese penetrated up to the Warri River as far as the present site of Warri…, the Jekri (sic “Itsekiri”) living in the villages of Okere and Ugbuwangwe came to meet the Portuguese.”
The Urhobo people, who occupy Idimi-Sobo quarters, came to Okere during the time of Arukuneyi, the fourth Olare-Aja of Okere. One of Arukuneyi’s wives was Idiboye, an Urhobo woman from Okpare in Olomu clan in present-day Ughelli North Local Government Area.
Idiboye was the daughter of one Okpeki, an Okpare man, who was also the father of Sowhoruvwe, Owhotemu, Itifo, and Idama, who was the youngest.
Owhotemu, Itifo, and Idama led a band of Okpare people on their way to Ugbokodo, the hometown of their mother. They were running away from Okpare due to internecine battles in that community at that time.
Secondly, the said land is not the whole of Okere but rather just 281 acres of land which the Idimi-Sobo occupy.
The judgment of Okere is for possessory rights, not for title to land.
The Itsekiri’s won both possessory and radical ownership to almost all the lands in Warri – except the Okumagba avenue, where Okumagba won the possessory right, while the radical title still resides with the Olu. SC/309/74 was won by the Okumagba family against the Itsekiri. But it is clear that they won only a possessory title – hear the Supreme Court..
“The averments in the Plaintiff amended statement of claim was based on traditional evidence and partly on acts of ownership. The averments of the defendants’ statement of defense and evidence give a completely different version of the traditional evidence. The defendants also testified as to their acts of ownership of land in dispute. It must be pointed out at this stage that the defendants are not counter claim for title to land (SC 309/74). Emphasis for clarity!
Since Okumagba did not counterclaim to title, it means the title to the land still remains with the Olu, while the Okumagba family had only the possessory title.
Urhobo’s are known for their craftiness and their fraud ways of making falsehoods and useless claims and all their ways of making claims to what doesn’t belong to them.
Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, the judge still made his decision based on his own opinion not on evidence presented if this were to be an Itsekiri judgment the Urhobo’s will be crying foul and call it false.
But we have known for long that the Urhobo’s are liars, frauds and forgers. high rates of illiteracy won’t make them understand that the judge’s opinion was based on the 281 acres of land in dispute not the whole of Okere and as for the whole Okere is concerned it hasn’t been taken to court yet. With the new evidence we have right now, we would like the Urhobo’s to take us to court if they truly believe they own Okere let’s see who wins. But they won’t because they know they will fail like how they were exposed in court in 1925.
In the words of His Honour Mr. Justice T.D. Maxwell judge about Urhobo’s in court:
“They come to this court in the persons of a series of utterly illiterate peasant witness. Of the first three, each of them seemed to me merely senile and I accept (not without hesitation) their counsel assertion that they were sober or at least normal in the witness box. Each of the others seemed to me to be abysmally stupid as well as ignorant.
The evidence, such as it is, of the whole set of them is a tissue of hearsay of rumor, of contradiction, of absurdities. Where it is not merely fatuous it is obviously fictitious.”
What more can you expect from a people with a history of being called “Wayo”, illiterates, drunkards, and ignorant?
Signed
Comdr Lily-white O. Esigbone
Chairman
Itsekiri Historical Front
Comdr Samuel Silva
Secretary
Itsekiri Historical front