Urhobo, Itsekiri and Ijaw Stop Killing One Another, We are BrethrenByBy
Obadiah Oghoerore Alegbe “Los
hermanos sean unidos,
esa es la Ley Primera, tengan unión verdadera en cualquier tiempo,
porque si entre ellos pelean, LOS DEVORAN LOS DE AFUERA “ “The
brethren be united, that is the First Law, have true union all time,
because if among themselves they fight, THEY WILL DEVOURED BY
OUTSIDERS” Martin Fierro of Jose Hernandez.” The
conflict between our people in the Niger Delta is a typical symptom of
the work of imperialism. We are fighting each other while our oil is
being pounded away. It is time we unite not against our brethren the big
WAZOBIA group but against imperialism, against submission and against
slavery. These
ethnic crisis now in the Delta State are not part of our inheritance, it
is being engineered by foreign power to loot our oil. It
is very sad indeed the Governor of Rivers State to have warned that
there is a pressure on Nigeria for U.S. troops to move into the Niger
Delta. The Governor of River State is not the kind of governor that
should be the dream of the people, under his command, the Federal Troops
destroyed Odi a whole civilization because a handful of policemen were
killed, the Red Brigade have been hitting hard in Italy, The IRA had
been hitting hard in The U.K. and the ETA had been hitting hard in
Spain, all these groups hid within the population, yet no village had
been destroyed, because the governors of those areas believe that the
right of there people first most is to life. It is evident, that all the
so-called human rights movements in Nigeria are all charlatans. If the
U.S. troops move into the Niger Delta all the governors and legislators
from the area should resign en mass for the President to rule the area
from Abuja throwing the area into anarchy. Dignity cannot be negotiated;
we must stand up and fight. If the imperialist army is allowed into the
Niger Delta, we have opened the road back to colonialism and slavery. Any
foreign army that invades the Niger Delta will also be a threat to the
WAZOBIA nationalities. The same scissors shall cut us. The
WAZOBIA group should also be made to understand that we are each
other’s brethren and any foreign occupation of the Niger Delta is
equaled to committing the same errors as old African Chiefs that
submitted their citizens for a mirror. “Opa
ti nwon fi una iyale, no ni nwon fi na iyawo”, The same whip used on
the senior wife is used for the junior one. The Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa
are not immune to occupation; we are all victims of marginalization and
oppression. The same sun beat us, the same rain beat us . Let wazobia
group take Africanism into their hands by jumping in into the crisis in
the Nigeria Delta. Let
the Elders of Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo arm themselves with African
proverbs and move into to pour water into the Niger Delta. Though
surrounded by water, we need omi tutu – omi lero. There
is just no justification of Urhobo-Itsekiri killing each other in Warri.
It is time the so-called leaders of the area resign from office for
their incompetence in the handling of the matter. For
centuries, intermarriages have united the ethnic groups of the region,
the Urhobo and Itsekiri share a common heritage in clothings, many
Urhobo surnames like my Great Grand Father Okorodudu and other like
Okumagba, Ewejuya, Ekuajemi and very other surnames exist in Urhobo
showing that there had been a spiritual relations between both
nationalities. There
are marks of beauty on the face of many Urhobo that originate from those
of the Itsekiri. Among the Itsekiri people, there are a lot of similar
phenomenon that originate from Urhobo. Some mad people saw money in the
Delta soil and turned our land into the delta of blood. My
Grandfather who died in 1941 was said to have spoken fluent Edo,
Itsekiri, Ijaw and Kwale, my late aunt at Sapele market spoke all those
language. Sapele and Ogbe Ijaw markets are heritage of where the fish
market women speak fluent Urhobo, Itsekiri and Ijaw. At Ethiope Trade
School Sapele and G.E.S. College Effurun I had classmates that reflected
the regional cosmopolitism in the sixties. I remember here many Ijaw
boys saying “boe minyio” and my aunt told me it meant come here. We
smiled when the others spoke their languages. In those days at Churches,
interpreters unite different ethnics in worship. The Ijaws and Itsekiris
formed both sea shield and transmission medium for the Urhobo Nation and
also The Urhobo Nation (Isoko Included) formed a solid back ground for
the Ijaw and Itsekiri nation. We traded, we intermarried. Let
me remind my kingsmen Urhobo (including Isoko) that The Edo, Itsekiri,
Kwale, Ika Igbo and Ijaw Nations form our closest Universe of
kingsmanship, we are consanguineous and any provocation to shed our
blood among ourselves is a sacrilege to God Our Creator, to Our
Forefathers, to generations to come, to the soil and rivers of the area
and to us ourselves of today. A
small expansion of this close universe will automatically include, the
Igbo, Calabar and Yoruba, which will also pull the map to Ilorin and
Accra. If Nigerian Archaeologists and anthropologists are not sleeping
they may have proved beyond reasonable doubt that the whole of West
Africa are direct descendant of the Noks on one side and melted together
with immigrants from East African in the later years. We have the entire
element for them to research but our professors keep on quoting from the
investigations of the white man foreign to our traditions. It
is time we put every hatred apart, put the devil to shame and hug our
brethren. Let us not feed those inept men that became rich through
looting of our natural resources when our beloved nation Nigeria was
bleeding and suffering under the yoke of dictatorship. Look today all
the major candidates are participants of the dictatorship that ruined
Nigeria. My
people, let us remember the unity of our former leaders Jereton
Marienren, Otobo, Omimi-Edjo, Okotie-Eboh, Giwa Osagie, Dennis Osadebe,
Enahoro among others when they campaigned successfully
for the old Mid-West region. The ethnic crisis in Warri is a
sacrilege to the labor of the named heroes. It is even a sacrilege to
Hebert McCauley. While
we fight, foreign troops are preparing to take over our land to steel
our oil submitting us to slavery. Azikiwe, Awolowo, Balewa, Sadauna,
Okara, Ibrahim Khasim would have sacrificed their lives to prevent it.
Today Nigeria appears to be ruled by gay men having the superpowers as
macho. They say yes to anything that a white man says. I
will also call on Collin Powell and Condoleza Rice to resign if American
troops occupy the Niger Delta in the memory of the slaves carried away
from Africa. The
people of the Nigeria Delta should unite to fight for electricity,
portable water, better health services, communications etc. Stand
up against slavery. The whole of Africa must stand up against any
foreign military or ideological occupation of Africa. To
round up I repeat, the Urhobo, Edo, Kwale, Agbor, Itsekiri, and the
WAZOBIA and all the people of Africa are brethren. Let us stop killing
ourselves. Let us fight Satan; let us fight against imperialism,
oppression, underdevelopment, diseases and poverty.
Let us hold firm on our roots. Let us vote off these politicians
that have sold their birthright. Let us hold on to our roots to prevent
evil men from uprooting us. “La
Patria o muerte. Venceremos” Obadiah
Oghoerore Alegbe |