The crisis rocking Warri Kingdom took a new twist at the weekend as the Ologbotsere, Chief Ayirimi Emami, declared that his position is next to the Olu of Warri.
Consequently, he has approached a Warri High Court in respect of the matter.
The Ologbotsere explained that he was seeking the interpretation of the controversial 1979 edict in court, as well as ensure his rightful place in the traditional administration of the kingdom.
Recall that the process of installing a new Olu for Warri Kingdom following the passage of the 20th Olu, Ogiame Ikenwoli, has been shrouded in controversy, beginning with a purported suspension of the Ologbotsere as chairman, Olu Advisory Council and Traditional Council of Chiefs by the Ginuwa I Ruling House.
The said council, under the leadership of the Iyatsere, Chief Johnson Amatserunleghe, in April unveiled Prince Utieyinoritsetsola Emiko, son to Ogiame Atuwaste II and 19th Olu of Warri, as Omoba, Olu-designate.
Addressing newsmen during a ceremony to brief the people of Itsekiri on his position in the said crisis in Ubeji, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State yesterday, Emami noted that he had kept mute on the matter from the outset.
He explained that his decision to go to court was aimed at ensuring that Iwere customs and traditions were preserved, emphasising that issues surrounding the Olu stool is a unifying factor for the Itsekiri.
“We know that there has been a lot of turbulence in Itsekiri land. So today, I decided that all sons and daughters of Itsekiriland should come for adequate prayers for our people.
“I equally use this medium to alert them that I have taken some steps for the wrongdoing and undoing of the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom. It is very straight, after the Olu, it is the Ologbotsere. But I have not been talking.
“I have moved to court for the court to interpret the edict. My position is to uphold whatever law Itsekiri has. You cannot stand in my presence and want to destroy the custom and tradition of Itsekiri.
“I don’t want to go into fighting. I don’t want to take the law into my hands. Itsekiris are known for peace. The only thing I can do is follow law and order. I have to do the needful. I am not the creator of the edict, neither was my father.
“A lot of people are ignorant. Our kingdom has been in existence before 1979, and if they say it (edict) came into being in 1979, it was only amended in 1979. So when they get to court, we would know whether it came into being or it is a piece of paper, the way some of them claim.”
The Ologbotsere, however, called for calm across Iwereland, stressing: “We will do the needful. And within a short time, we will announce what I am going to do by the power vested on me by the edict.”
Earlier while addressing hundreds of Itsekiri people present at the ceremony, he stated that he did nothing “bad” like is reported in the streets.
Expressing gratitude to the people, he disclosed that despite protests against his Ologbotsere candidature in 2017, the late Ogiame Ikenwoli saw his commitment to the kingdom and gave him the title.
He added, “Whatever Itsekiri decide is where I stand. People should not go and lie against the Ologbotsere.
Nobody will take Itsekiri backward. We will follow the way it is done.
“If there is no Olu, I am next. I am the next to speak. Some persons want to rewrite history. I want to go to court to ask if Iyatsere can be next. I also want to ask if the princes can sack a chief.”
Warri chiefs who were present at the occasion include Chief Michael Odeli and Chief Arthur Diden.
A writ of summons with suit number W/128/2021 and dated July 8, 2021, has Chief Emami as claimant, while Chief Akoma Dudu Dimeyin (Olori-Ebi of Ginuwas Ruling House), Prince Emmanuel Okotie-Eboh (Olori-Ebi of Ginuwa l Ruling House) and Chief Johnson Amatserunleghe (Iyatsere of Warri) as defendants.
The Ologbotsere is seeking “an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants either by themselves agents, privies and/or whomsoever from crowning any person as the Olu of Warri kingdom pending the hearing and determination of this suit.
“An order retraining the defendants either by themselves, agents, privies and by whomsoever from using anybody, particularly the 3rd defendant (Iyatsere) or the Uwangue or any other traditional Chief of Warri Kingdom to crown any person as the Olu of Warri Kingdom against the provision of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict of 1979, pending the hearing and determination of this suit”.