By Oweipa Jones-Ere III
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!My people of Ogboin. 20 years ago when I ascended this throne, Ogboin was a place of great hope and excitement. The first graduates were just coming of of the New Niger Delta University. The People of Otuan and Amatolo were, along with the people of Amassoma, experiencing direct access to the centre of Government for the first time. A new road was being carved through the forest, connecting this island to the main land of Nigeria through Yenagoa. There was hope as the population of Ogboin rose, families came back from Lagos and other places, and young people returned home for University and other opportunities.
Over the past twenty years, we have enjoyed great cordiality with various Governments. I use this opportunity to thank their Excellencies – Goodluck Jonathan, Timipre Sylva, Seriake Dickson and presently His Excellency Honourable Douye Diri.
During this period we have also experience deep tragedy. Great men have passed to the greater beyond, His Excellency DSP Alamieyeseigha. My brother and the great Governor General. We have only recently lost His Royal Highness Graham Naigba, Amananowei of Amassoma. As a people we are grateful for the gift of DSP Alamieyeseigha and we will forever be thankful for the opportunities that he bestowed on Ogboin Ebe.
My good people of Ogboin. The growth of our people is my greatest concern. By growth I mean, prosperity and longevity. By growth I mean, that the people of Ogboin, in all the peles and biris of Amatolo and Otuan, and Amassoma, and our Towns in the Delta – that we prosper.
Yet standing in our way are some of the great challenges the Izon generally have faced. In the more than five thousand years of our existence, we are face with the degradation of our environment on a scale that has never been. The forests that have sheltered and fed us, is being felled at an unprecedented rate. The rivers that raised us and made us Izon are been polluted by our hand and the hands of strangers. No one but us, can help us. What do we do?
We as the Izon have never been conquered, not by any strangers, from the Portuguese to the British and to our neighbours upland. This is true. Yet we are facing the destruction of our environment by our hand and the hands of others.
Let me use this glorious day to plead with those for whom the death of the forest is their livelihood, for whom the poisoning our Rivers is their livelihood, let me tell them that we are enjoying today and leaving great suffering and tragedy for our children and their children. We need to know that the river and the forest belongs to us all. That we must replant the forests and clean our brooks. We must put into the forest what belongs there, and to the sea what belongs to the water. That is the only way. We must.
Finally let me address, what I believe to be the most important mission we have. The safety, protection , education and health of the child, especially the girl child. To the girl child of Ogboin and Indeed all of Izon, I tell you this. You have my voice in your corner. That I will speak to all the Governments that will listen to me, all the policy makers and decision makers that seek my counsel. That your education, health and safety are first and foremost in Ogboin. I was raised by incredible women. Zineke mother of my mother Sofaya. Kpokponi Odumange Ere, my father’s mother – princess of the Mien clan, who against all the odds paddled through great storms to raise not only her children, my father Ogboin II and his two sisters – Marlene and Yoruba-ere. These were formidable women. Every family here present, – can name a Matriarch and an Amazon, who as we say – gerede ti yé.
For the girl child, we must make every effort to lift any ceiling to knowledge, any bar that limits their ambition and most important – we must tell them of the great women of the past, who founded along with their menfolk our villages and towns. Who have been deitified and who for what ever reason are now being consigned to the back stage. Hear this my people of Ogboin. There is no traditional and cultural impediment to the heights to which an Ogboin girl child can climb and attain. None.
I thank you all for coming today. But before I finish, let me address all the clans of our great Izon nation. We are dispersed to the east, west and even far north. We are all the same, from the same stock, with common ancestors, most of our forebears rode these rivers, through the Mein Toru to raise the great clan of the west, through the Nun and Sombriero to raise the Clans of the East. In all the Izon journey, fundamental to our belief is the notion of Truth. Truth is Izon. The brevity to face it and face it squarely. Our forefathers faced great adversity, the oceans and rivers shape us, we have known violent storms and calm seas, known slavery, and fought down colonialism. In all of this we fly the Alo, white and clear and pristine before the Amayi and Man. The flag of truth: that stands before all ..invoking the Amayi that reside in the skies, the oceans and the forests. Irrespective of which God you serve, It is this same fundamental adherence to the Truth, that carries Justice and fairness, that has made us unconquerable.
For this I should say to you my kinFolk, that It is not creating new kingdoms that make us great, it only divides us : It is fighting for our children to prosper that make us great. It is not how shiny our thrones are or how long the titles we bestow on ourselves, – it is how our people will prosper in this modern world that demands that we redefine what it means to be Izon. It is raising the Alo, with great pride and no fear – because – we are Izon. Being Izon means riding all the waves and facing our adversities with the Truth. It is during the time of the calm sea, that we repair our nets and canoes, fix our home steads and fix our roofs.
One day I hope that there we will be able to converge all the Izon Clans. I name them with pride, I name them to say that they are not alone. I mean Clans (or nations if you prefer) not kingdoms. I mean Izon Clans whose histories are common to ours and intertwined and are formed by the ancestors and same events and challenges and exploration that has taken us to Gabon, and Equitorial Guinea and across the west of Nigeria, and the Caribbeans and to all the far corners. We are all Kin. The same hearts and drums that beat here, beats in Arogbo and Tarakiri, in Ibani and Wakirike. Same. I name them as we know them – Akassa or Akaha (Bayelsa), Andoni/Opobo (Rivers/Akwa-Ibom), Apoi (Bayelsa/Delta/Ondo), Arogbo (Ondo) Bassan (Bayelsa), Mein-Oyakiri (Bayelsa) Bille (Rivers), Biseni (Bayelsa), Bumo (Bayelsa), Degema (Rivers), Egbema (Delta/Edo), Ekpetiama/Gbarain (Bayelsa), Engenni (Rivers), Epie/Attissa(Bayelsa), Furupagha (Edo), Gbaramatu (Delta), Gbaraun (Edo State), Ibani (Rivers), Iduwini (Bayelsa/Delta), Isaba (Delta), Kabo (Delta), Kalabari (Rivers), Kolokuma(Bayelsa), Kubo (Delta), Kula (Rivers), Mein (Bayelsa/Delta), Nembe (Bayelsa), Nkoro/Defaka (Rivers), Obotebe (Delta), Ogbe-Ijo (Delta), Ogbia (Bayelsa), Ogulagha (Delta), Wakirike (Rivers), Okomu/Ukomu (Edo), Okordia/Zarama (Bayelsa), Olodiama (Edo/Delta/Bayelsa), Operemor (Delta), Oporomo (Bayelsa), Opokuma (Bayelsa), Oruma (Bayelsa), Seimbiri (Delta), Tarakiri (Bayelsa/Delta), Tombia (Rivers), Tubutoru (Ondo), Tungbo (Bayelsa) Tuomo (Delta), etc.
I salute you. Anua. Ogboin Tufedefede. Debé timi.
*Being an address by HRM Oweipa Jones-Ere III, Ebenanaowei of Ogboin Kingdom on the occasion of his 20th Coronation Anniversary on Saturday, 8th June, 2024
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