FIRST CORONATION ANNIVERSARY SPEECH BY HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY OGIAME ATUWATSE III, THE OLU OF WARRI KINGDOM

We give thanks to God Almighty, for what has been an amazing year. Every moment, the highs, and the lows, God has shown his faithfulness, and we remain encouraged and resolute that He is the one charting our course, and we shall surely get to our destination.

But in a bid to make that journey to our destination smoother, we must be prepared to meet the opportune moments, so that we are successful. 

We must be prepared to move from an entitlement mindset, to a faith with works mindset. We would all prefer, if we could choose, that breakthrough and progress meets us while we are sitting still, and that the manifestations comes upon us like that. Truth is, this kingdom suffers violence, and we must be of the violent faith, to take back our kingdom.

When we look at animals, like an eagle, it sheds its feathers. Shedding is nature’s way of preparing the bird for a season of changes, and growth. By shedding the outer layer, they are able to grow bigger and achieve higher heights. Itsekiri, we are being prepared for our next stage, we are shedding our old feathers, we are preparing to soar to higher heights. 

But we must ask ourselves one critical questions, so we do not miss this opportunity: If things are going terribly wrong in our society, we must be willing to admit that God is speaking to us through those unpleasant circumstances. He is trying to tell us, that our traditional ways of doing things, politically, religiously, culturally and so on, are the things that are killing us, or at least preventing us from moving forward. 

Sentiment is a powerful thing. But where it doesn’t take us forward, we should do away with it.

God is doing a new thing in our lives, in our kingdom and in our country. We must drop the weight of sentiment and status quo, and open ourselves to life lines that chart a new path. It will not be easy, but it will be worth it. We must drop our hurts and our suspicions of each other, so healing can be released. We must learn to trust again, and not insist that if it is not me who does it, then it will not work, or I will not agree. We must give hope a chance, we must give progress a chance. 

I want to speak to our youth. God has blessed us with creativity and energy, and we must not waste it. In the coming months, we will be coming up with changes that will heavily involve our younger minds. The future is now, it is time for our youth to step up and be given a chance to prove that they are more than capable to be kingdom changers.

I want to use this to yet again, encourage our people to go home to their hometowns and communities. While we may all have the thought or desire to establish presence at these grassroots level, it is time to begin to put our thoughts into action. There is a reason why I am taking time to visit each community that is on duty (Ghighó Aghofen), I want to feel and experience the entire terrain that is this kingdom. I want to practice what I preach, and I want all our people to know, that no matter how well we have fared abroad, there is no place like home. From the first time since I came to Ode Itsekiri in 1987, I finally spent the night in Ode Itsekiri this past night. It was one of the best night rests I have had, and I woke up rejuvenated and inspired. I will be visiting frequently, and spending more nights in Ode Itsekiri going forward. And I will expect that, all chiefs have at least a presence in at least one of the several communities that may be home to them. 

The same applies for burial ceremonies. We should desist from turning our riverine communities into burial grounds, by simply committing the dead into the ground in the local community, and rushing on to the next urban area to conclude affairs. We must take advantage of every opportunity we can to attract life to our communities. 

The best minds of itsekiris cannot be complaining from the comfort of urban areas, and wondering why the quality of life and thought amongst our people on the ground is not one that they are proud of. Those that live in the urban areas should celebrate the courage and commitment of our people who, against all odds, remain in the villages. And at the same time, as we are encouraging Urban to rural migration, I urge those on the ground in the riverine areas to be accommodation and welcoming to those bold enough to heed the call to return back to the creeks. We are the ones who must make our own environment conducive to the growth we desire. And this begins by us healing and letting go of bitterness and resentment or any sense of abandonment. It is time to let these negative energies go.

Leading from the front, I will establish presence in the riverine area, away from Ode Itsekiri. Ugborodo people are advocating, and recently Deghele people are insisting they should be the first partakers. But as I make these developments, and put down roots, I will be expecting to see that those who have the means of putting up a structure, however small, are quick to do so. We have spent enough time identifying and over analyzing our problems. Now, we are moving to take whatever little active steps we have it in ourselves to do. We will be bold and will get to doing the hard work of thinking and planning.

We will be coming up with a plan that is kingdom focused, one that has the collective development of our kingdom at the forefront. The resources may be limited, but we will be strategic and efficient in our planning and our approach, so that there is no corner of our kingdom that is left behind. A kingdom of fair consideration, a kingdom of equity. The reason it is called a kingdom, is not simply because it is ruled by a King. More importantly, it is that the King has dominion, and this dominion is a life giving one, it is one that builds on the vision God has given him, so it becomes a reality in the lives of his people. I know many have strong opinions as to how they feel the developmental efforts should go. I invite everyone to bring their ideas as we create this developmental plan, so we can give fair consideration to the best contributions and present a unified Kingdom vision, kingdom model, kingdom approach. And I assure you, that while we will be peaceful, lawful and reasonable in our approach, we will not concede any of our land to illegal encroachment.

This throne will align with laws that support God’s word. And in doing so, there will proceed thoughts and words. The words and thoughts from this thronal interactions will become life giving laws, which will serve as ground for this reign. And anything that comes from this beautiful place, can only manifest the same for our own living. 

It is in this place that we shall get the source of our inspiration for the vision of our reign.

We are already a beautiful people, but we shall place emphasis on becoming a people that have respect for God. A people that have respect for life. A people that have respect for elders. A people that celebrate hard work, productivity, righteousness & justice. These things will enables us to effortlessly attain the destiny that God originally designated for us.

Niba-Oritse, Itsekiri nogba ren nogwa.

 D’oritse bi-ene winor. Doh san gbanghan.

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