Ijaws In Gelegele Town Are Tenants In Benin Kingdom-Group

LAGOS JUNE 18TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Group under the aegis Otuode Youth Forum has revealed that the Supreme Court judgment of 1983 made all Ijaws including Gelegele community in Benin Kingdom the customary tenants of the Benin Oba.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the group and signed by Comrade Tony Kabaka Arun, Comrade Eribo Emuata, Dr. Sammie Davies Eweka, Chief Victor Ujiagbe, Comrade Isaac Aburime.
The statement dated 18th June, 2019, was in reaction to a publication made by a coalition of Ijaw youths group over the proposed building of residential and estate in Gelegele town by the Oba of Benin.

SEE FULL DETAILS OF PRESS STATEMENT

OTUODE YOUTH FORUM
Benin City, Edo State
Nigeria.

GELEGELE CRISIS: BY THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT OF 1983, ALL IJAWS INCLUDING GELEGELE IN BENIN KINGDOM REMAIN CUSTOMARY TENANTS OF BENIN OBA.

18th June, 2019.

Our attention has been drawn to a purported gathering of self-styled and spurious Ijaw group at an emergency meeting on 23rd May, 2019 in Warri, Delta State.
This phantom coalition of Ijaw Civil Society Groups, Activists and Youth Leaders across Ijaw nation chose to brazenly insult the most revered person of our father HRM, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, for the alleged annexation of the Gelegele-Ijaw land for the purpose of building a residential estate in Gelegelegbene (the purported Olodiama kingdom)
Let us point out that our rejoinder is not designed to glorify these questionable and disgruntled elements who have based their claims and actions on spurious historical facts.
We will not dignify them with the intellectual ability to possess such historical knowledge and credibility.
Whereas their Friday June 7th 2019 Vanguard publication on page 8 largely seeks to mislead the general public and draw undeserved sympathy, we do not want to be seen as elevating rascality and clownishness of this faceless group by a totally undeserved response.
They do not deserve nor merit that dignity.
We however, want by this rejoinder, to put the matter in its proper perspectives so as to guide our people on the paths of truth and justice.
We want the entire Benins and Nigerians to maintain their guard and not be misled by the spurious condition of bedfellows posing to represent a whole nation.
It is of utmost importance to call on Ijaw national leaders to move towards purging out these dangerous and disgruntled elements bent on unwanted and dangerous territorial expansion from bastardizing their valued ethnic nationality so as not to be seen as the fuel behind their crass actions and campaign of calumny against the most revered person of our beloved father, Omo N’ Oba N’ Edo, Ewuare II.
We want to send a note of very stern warning to those abetting these disgruntled elements that violence is not the exclusive preserve and monopoly of any ethnic group and people.
Let them please be reminded that the Benins and other ethnic groups of Edo extractions stood shoulder to shoulder with their Ijaw brothers in CAMP 5 in those defining battles with the Federal might to gain the fiscal control of the Niger Delta region’s destiny.
Therefore, the firing of a rifle or rifles are not the prerogatives or monopoly of a group or ethnic nationality.
Let us remind these phony historians with their half-baked and totally unresearched historical posturing that:
It is a historical fact and is internationally accepted that Benin Kingdom is the oldest surviving kingdom in the world today.
It is a historical fact and also internationally accepted that the Benin Kingdom and this dynasty have spanned 2054 years of history.
That the present dynasty is a continuation of the Ogiso dynasty which spanned over 1000 (One Thousand) years in Benin History.
Therefore, the Professor Ade Ajayi’s Eurocentric posturing that seeks to split the long monarchical Benin dynasty into two, that is, Ogiso and Oba dynasties, is a falsification of history which recent historical researches and facts have already disproved.
The recent book by Oba Erediuawa, I, YOUR OBEDIDENT SERVANT, and the works of Professor Igbafe in Taric El Sudan and other historical journals have proved the Professor Ade Ajayi position wrong.
It is even amusing that the spurious Ijaw scholars chose to cite their historical information from Joseph Egharevba whose major sources of information were J. Talbot, a British sea captain who came to ancient Benin Empire in mid 17th Century AD. No need to inform our Ijaw brothers that Talbot wrote without sound historical foundation.
In summary, the two so called two dynasties are one.
The present Oba dynasty is a continuation of the Ogiso dynasty.
It is on record that Benins have always practice the law of primogeniture where the eldest son inherits the throne or the father’s properties. That it is this law that makes the inheritance and succession dispute non-existent in our history, since the eldest son inherits the throne of his fathers and for fathers.
That it is this law of primogeniture that compelled the Benins to seek Prince Ekaladerhan (who the Yorubas call Oduduwa) to return and claim his father’s (Ogiso Owodo) throne after the period of interregnum.
That it was Prince Ekaladerhan (now named Oduduwa) that sent his son, Prince Omonoyan (now called Prince Oranmiyan) to take over the throne about 850 years ago since he, Prince Ekaladehan had become too old to travel.
That there is no historical record that the Yoruba people of Ile-Ife ever conquered the Benins in any historical or expansionist conquest. The Benins only went to call their own to rule.
That while Ile-Ife was a completely an under-developed community that the Benin Kingdom of the Ogiso era was already an established monarchy which had spanned over a 1000 years of history!
That it is totally spurious for any historian worth his salt to claim that Benin Kingdom and this dynasty only began 850 years ago!.
That it was Oba Orhogbua (1547-1580) who invited the Ijaws and their leader, Adodo, to Benin to assist him in his naval expedition to conquer the people of Dahomey (now Republic of Benin).
So the name of that great Ijaw friend of the Benin Oba and so called boatman that our spurious historians cannot remember is ADODO
That it was in the course of that expendition that Oba Orhogbua founded Lagos and Badagry.
That as part of the arrangement he, Oba Orhogbua gave Adodo and his Ijaw brothers the land of Ikoro to dwell in. The descendants of Adodo are still in Ikoro.
That it was because of the rapprochement between the Benins and the Ijaws that came with Adodo that encouraged other Ijaws to come to Benin Kingdom where they began to dwell in the coastal line with Gelegele included.
That there is the Supreme Court judgment of 1983 which makes all Ijaw in Benin Kingdom the customary tenants of the Benin Oba.
That this judgment includes among all others the Gelegele community and other areas where the Ijaws are seeking to plant their phantom kingdoms in Benin Kingdom.
That it is an act of royal magnanimity that these customary tenants are not paying annual rents to the Oba of Benin.
That this royal magnanimity should not be abused.
That the Omo N’Oba N’Edo can choose to erect a building or palace or estate any where in the seven local governments areas of Edo Senatorial South without seeking permission from any one.
Oba Oyan Oto.
The Royal Majesty is the owner of the land.
That the attack on the Oba’s emissaries and subsequent insult on His Royal person are acts of lawlessness and the law breakers should be brought to book.
Conclusively, we want to reiterate that although the Benins are peace loving people who also love to accommodate a lot, that we take any insult on our most revered Father, Oba Ewuare II very seriously.
It is only a foolish child that folds his hands when his father is insulted.
We will not fold our hands.
We are not foolish children.
We therefore call on both the Federal and State Government to intervene and call these miscreants to order.

Signed:

1. Comrade Tony Kabaka Arun
2. Comrade Eribo Emuata
3. Dr. Sammie Davies Eweka
4. Chief Victor Ujiagbe
5. Comrade Isaac Aburime

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