I have tried to refrain from commenting on the ongoing Ologbotsere brouhaha for obvious reasons. I didn’t want to join issues with anyone or give room for people to misinterpret whatever I may say and further create unnecessary controversy. Be that as it may, let me state clearly also that this write up is my findings on what represents Itsekiri history, tradition and culture.
Let no one make any mistake that my father is anyway perturbed or grumbling over the initial choice of His Majesty, Ogiame. For my father, being made Ologbotsere would have been an opportunity to further serve Iwere nation and not being chosen does not affect his relationship with His Majesty or indeed anyone. Like Chief Ayiri and himself stated during one of the Iya family meetings, their interest in the title is not a contest nor does it create any rivalry between them. I say with all sense of modesty that I’m yet to find any Itsekiri man or woman living, who loves Itsekiri greater or has greater respect for our revered monarch than my father. He has always told us his children and those around him that the Olu is an absolute monarch and no Itsekiri man or woman has any right to question his authority or decision openly. He still holds that view and will continue to do so. So let no one make any issue out of this matter by linking him to public protest against Ogiame’s pronouncement.
One issue however, that has remained burning in my mind and which I consider pertinent to talk about and put the record straight is what I seek to write about here. Also, to ensure that such untruth and misinformation about our culture and tradition is not passed on from generation to generation as if it is the truth, so that our children unborn will never get to know the truth and thus leave them a legacy that will hunt them generations to come. That issue is the lie that certain Itsekiri sons are not qualified for certain offices by reason of being from a female lineage.
Please, this piece is not in anyway making a case for my father over the allegation that the Ologbotsere family claimed he is of a female lineage and at such he was not qualified to take the Ologbotsere title. My father reeled out his lineage before the larger Ologbotsere family. Those who chose not to believe him know why. That matter in itself is a discussion for another day. That assertion even though it relates to him now, if not denied and placed in the right perspective, may pass on from generation to generation and end up altering the age long position.
As recorded by our renowned historian Pa. J.O.S. Ayonmike, Itsekiri nation up till the time of late Chief O.N. Rewane have had only 4 Ologbotseres recorded in history. The first was one Ologbotsere named Lahun who had no male child. He had a daughter though, who married Udefi and gave birth to a son named Eyinmisanren who later became Ologbotsere. Eyinmisanren had 12 children whose descendants today, constitute Ologbotsere descendants. It was Eyinnmisanren who founded Bobi, the ancestral home of all Ologbotsere descendants. Some of his children include Egbeju who was Dudu of Obonteghareda’s grand father, Ajuwayiboyami a.k.a. Iya who founded Obaghoro, Uwakun (Uwangue) who founded Jakpa, Iwereko (female) the mother of Olomu and grand mother to Nana, Omagene Numa’s father et al.
From the narrative above, it can be seen that Eyinmisanren got the Ologbotsere title by reason of his mother being the daughter of Ologbotsere. If this new lie being put forward by those who want to rewrite Itsekiri tradition is allowed or taken as the true tradition, it follows therefore, that no Ologbotsere descendant today is qualified to take the title. But the truth is that it has never been the tradition of Itsekiri people to sideline any of their sons or daughters from taking any honour by reason of their being from a female stock. In Itsekri history, Itsekiri women and their offsprings have made great impact and no one has ever denied them any right by reason of their maternity or being connected to it.
William Moore in his book ‘A History of Itsekiri’ recounted that Ogiame Olu Oyenakpara was the son of a Princess and yet he ascended the throne of the great kingdom of Warri. We also know the exploits of the great royal Princess Iye who at a time sought to be crowned Olu. Her son, Chaninomi became Governor (Gofune). Nobody opposed him because he was from a woman. While going through the burial brochure of late Chief G. E. Mabiaku, the immediate past Iyatsere of Warri, I discovered that both himself and his brother before him, the late Chief Brown Tenumah were not directly of the male stock in the Iyatsere lineage. It was their great grand mother who was a daughter of Kaye. There have been great Itsekiri sons in the past and now who have titles only by reason of their mother being Itsekiri. Late Chief F.O.M. Atake who was the last Aboludero of Warri before my father, fought the Itsekiri cause better than those who were of full Itsekiri blood. What about the late Chief Ben Sutherland, the Olufusi of Warri? Even of late, I have heard, though I am yet to confirm that the late Ologbotsere of Warri, Chief O.N. Rewane, is not directly patrilineal from Jakpa, as it has been alleged that his father is actually from Bateren.
I do not seek to make any allegation or call any body any name but I urge those formulating this lie as our tradition to either desist from it for the sake of children unborn or explain why all the facts recounted above happened. Like I stated, this is not about the OLOGBOTSERE TITLE alone but about Itsekiri custom and tradition. Neither I nor any member of the Eyewuoma family has any grouse about who Ogiame picks as the Ologbotsere but let no one give a dog a bad name so as to hang it!
LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTY, THE OLU OF WARRI
LONG LIVE IWERELAND
