Ijaw leader and scion of the Eselemo dynasty, Prince Collins Eselemo, says the aboriginal, indigenous status and presence of Ijaw in Warri South Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State from time, is incontestible.
Eselemo, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, spoke in reaction to claims by the Itsekiri and some Agbhara-Urhobo that there is no Ijaw ownership or presence in Warri to justify creating 3 electoral wards for Ijaw in the recent fresh delineation of electoral wards by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Speaking at a press briefing, Monday, at Eselemo Plaza, aka Old Leventis Building, a flight of four stairs, built by his father right inside Agbhara-Warri, Eselemo decried what he said was undermine of the distinguished array of Ijaws that have always lived from time in Warri metropolis.
He roared: “The claim that Ijaw does not exist in Warri South LGA is absurd, despotic and excruciating. With Prince Wilson Eselemo, my father, with several buildings in Warri, industrialising the Warri water front and impacting the socio-economic life of Warri with Eselemo Diamonds football club which at a time supplied about 8 of green eagle players, how can you say Ijaw are not visible in Warri? With Pa Agidee, a Westernregion parliamentarian with English Parliamentarian model building in Warri, how can you say the Ijaws are not in Warri? Agidee who gave his Mercedes car to Chief Tony Enahoro and bought a Limousine for the Alagbegi of Owo! With Malory Dediare of Ayakoromo known for his Newrex Cinema in Warri, how can you say Ijaw were not in Warri South LGA?With Broderick Bozimo and Pa Brisibe whose structure still stands in Robert Road and the Dakolos, how can you say the Ijaws are not in Warri? With Asifo, a prominent lawyer of Bini/Ijaw stock who was served by Mukoro Mowoe, the Urhobo icon of blessed memory, how can you say Ijaw are not in Warri?”.
Eselemo continued: “The Ijaws of Ogbe-Ijoh were the first settlers in cosmopolitan Warri with the founder Ewein from Oporomor Kingdom in Burutu LGA. The Colonial Masters sacked the Ogbe-Ijoh people, not the Itsekiri, to build administrative structures. The land leases in the 1890s however clearly show Ogbe-Ijoh clan land signed by Prince Yowuren and Dore Numa as Colonial representative, who in the 1925 case of Dore Numa vs Ometan revealed that the Ogbe-Ijoh clan land belonged to the Ijaw people of Ogbe-Ijoh. Do you say because Governor Sheriff Oborevwori signed a C of O of a land, that makes him original owner of such land?”.
According to Eselemo, “the Ogbe-Ijoh clan land leases were futher split into European and non-European with Dore, Paramount Ruler himself, and Ijaw persons namely Pa Agidi, Eselemo, Pa Oki, Dakolo, Akebofa, Fuludu, benefiting from the sale of the non-European section of Ogbe-Ijoh land leases and their children are qualified voters till date”. He argued: “If Dore Numa, supposedly Itsekiri man also bought land from the Ogbe-Ijoh leases, how could he, at once be the owner?”.
Eselemo said “since 2005, the Ogbe-Ijoh lands leased to UAC, Chellarams, Miller (German), W.B. McIver, NBTC had expired and same reverted to the Ogbe-Ijoh owners with Mobene III, The Pere/Amakosu of Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom, taking possession and collecting rents’.
Eselemo said there are several Ijaw landmarks in Warri metropolis still showing existence of Ijaw in Warri South LGA including Ijaw Street which hosts the Warri township stadium. We have Torufa Primary School, Warri–Torufa being an Ijaw word with the school reflecting general Ijaw community effort that established a school for their children. Another evidence, Eselemo said, is the Ogbe-Ijoh Market long defying obliteration as relic of the Ijaw presence in Warri South LGA. He said the present King George Hall was formerly the Ogbe-Ijoh Customary Court”.
Eselemo added that in recent years, his father’s property, home to “over 500 Ijaw citizens has become part of Warri South LGA in further proof of Ijaw existence and presence in Warri South LGA”.
The Ijaw leader said INEC, as directed by the Supreme Court, only went out to right historical wrong of absence of equal or fair grounds for Ijaw participation in democracy in Warri South LGA in present Delta State”.
He warned the Itsekiri against fighting the Ijaw whose blood with the Bini defines the DNA of their crown.
