UTC Elections: Udu have spoken, Isaac Otima is a sour loser, Says Ujevwu President

Pastor Great Oghenenyerhovwo Nyekigbe is the President of Ujevwu Community, popularly called the Railway Village and headquarters of Uloho Ruling House of Udu.

In this interview, he reacted to insinuations by Chief Isaac Otima, the Ame of Udu Kingdom who declared that Community Presidents have no role to play in the election of members of the Udu Traditional Council. Pastor Nyekigbe insists that as far as the current processes are concerned, Udu people have taken a stand in line with the directive of the State Government in the implementation of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict 1979. Excerpts_ :

 In an online Interview recently, Chief Isaac Otima, the Ame of Udu Kingdom declared emphatically that Community Presidents have no role to play in the election of the UTC members, ceding the powers to do so to the Udu Monarch. What is your take on this matter as President of Ujevwu Community?

It baffles one what ignorance can do to the mind. I had a very good laugh when I read the entire interview and everything in that piece speaks volume of the place of illiteracy and ignorance in interpreting the spirit and letters of the law that provided foundation for the establishment of Udu Kingdom. I hear some people have celebrated the crass ignorance demonstrated in that piece. And it was quite intriguing to understand that another illiterate, though a Chief, took time out to share the piece in some Udu platform perhaps out of a celebration of some pyrrhic victory on the matter. Thank God Chief Isaac Otima referred to the Udu General Assembly or meeting of August 14, 2024 which was a result of the intervention of the State Government in the protracted crisis rocking Udu Kingdom for some time now. The issues raised in that meeting were clear. The issue of stranger-elements in Udu was dealt with and dismissed just as the communiqué insisted that there are no slaves or stranger elements in Udu. The UUC Exco was dissolved paving way for setting up of caretaker committee. At that point the State Government directed the Community Presidents to go home and convene meetings of communities in the various ruling houses for selection of their representatives in the Udu Traditional Council. The only role we played was to convene meetings of our communities for decisions to be taken. That we have done in line with the provision of the 1979 Edict that paved way for the establishment of the Kingdom. Chief Isaac Otima and his backers are the one who wanted to usurp our mandate and authority but we stood our ground in line with government directives and acted accordingly. We as Presidents of Communities did not select the UTC members but it was the entire Assembly of the people in each ruling houses that did the selection. The 1979 Edict is sacrosanct. On this Edict we stand.  

Do you think it was right for the Community Presidents to call such meetings instead of the Chiefs from the ruling houses as advocated by Chief Otima?

The state government was very right because it is only the Community Presidents that have the right and privilege to call a meeting of all members of the community including the Chiefs, youths, women-folks, elders and other stakeholders. Just check it, which Chief can call a meeting of a community and the decision from such meetings would be binding on the people if not the President? Can Chief Isaac Otima call a meeting of Ujevwu Community and get the people to attend? That is not possible. A Community President enjoys the mandate of all the people in a community, including all the Chiefs, children, boys and girls, men and women, elders and any stakeholder you can think of. That a particular Chief who was handpicked by the Ovie of Udu Kingdom and conferred with a title was not in a community meeting does not invalidate the decisions of the Community Assembly or meeting. Some of these Chiefs are assuming roles well beyond their mandate and powers. Most of these chiefs are non-Udu indigenes, some do not have any bearing with their communities and often at loggerheads with the people, some do not hold any respect among the people but may be valuable to the King for reasons best known to the palace. One thing is clear, the UTC is an assembly of representatives of the ruling houses to form a cabinet for administration of the Kingdom.

They are not lords over the ruling houses but their representatives. The framers of the existing law which established the Kingdom envisages that members of the UTC should draw their powers from the people which constitute the Kingdom since policies and decisions from their meetings with the Monarch may have direct or indirect bearings on them. The gazette did not say Chiefs from the ruling houses should choose members of UTC but ‘’the entire members of the ruling house’’. Chief Otima believes he can use his closeness to the palace to foist himself on the people as their representative. That will not happen because any attempt to impose a Chief on the people as their representative in UTC shall be resisted by the people. Udu Kingdom was established for the people and not the other way round. I can tell you without fear of any backlash that some, if not most of those parading themselves as Chiefs because they have been so named do not carry the dignity, splendor and magnificence of a true titled chief in the actual sense of the word. I can recall one chief that was so conferred with a title and was celebrated to high heavens. Just a week after, he was paraded on National Television as a fraudster. Is that the kind of person our communities should nominate to represent them in UTC? Today, boys of secondary school age, without visible means of livelihood have been conferred with titles for reasons best known to the palace and somebody expects the communities to sent such to UTC? I insist that if those to be made UTC members are to represent the ruling houses, then the people should have a say on who should be selected to represent them. You cannot be picked by one man as my representative.  

So are you insisting that the business of electing UTC members rests with the Community and not the Monarch and his Chiefs as alleged by Isaac Otima?

That is what the 1979 Edict says. The Community Presidents did not determine the UTC members as being alleged by Otima. The people did in line with the gazette. Our only role is to call a meeting of the communities in each ruling house. No other person has the power to call such meeting or open the communities’ town halls for such meetings. Chief Isaac Otima is bitter because he was not nominated. He lobbied so hard to get it but as soon as he lost out, he started the campaign to discredit the process thereby exposing himself to ridicule. He is simply a sour loser. Udu have made their choice of UTC members and UUC caretaker committee. At the Udu general assembly meeting at Otor-Udu where the decisions were taken, he refused to attend. When the town-criers went round our villages to announce notice of the meetings where the decision on our representatives was taken, he did not attend. 

The documents were signed by the Community Excos and Elders’ Councils of many communities. All the communities in Udu have constitutions which specified that only the President has the right to call Community General meetings. That is what we have done and Chief Isaac Otima and his gang cannot stop us.

 But Otima insisted that the UTC being a Traditional Institution ought to be composed of traditional chiefs. Don’t you think so?

If that were to be the case, then Chief Isaac Otima is not even qualified. He kept referring to himself as a traditional chief who must sit on traditional matters in the Kingdom. He lied. He is a honorary political chief. The traditional chiefs are the Ades and Igbuns. These societies in the traditional settings particularly when Udu Kingdom had not been established coffered titles on deserving Udu people. Non-Udu man or woman CANNOT be a traditional chief. Those in these societies attend to specific traditional issues and duties. The modern chiefs are honorary chiefs or political chiefs just as most Kings are political Kings, who derive their powers from government. Though they are referred to traditional rulers, most of them are not at home with the traditions and custom of the people. 

However, that is a story for another day. What I know and can defend is that Chief Isaac Otima is not even a traditional chief in the first place and cannot pretend to know the tradition of the people better than the elders who may not be privileged to be made chiefs. I insist that elections into UTC have been concluded. The gazette did not provide rooms for rejection of those nominated by the people. The Monarch exists for the people and not the other way round. Chief Isaac Otima should stop misleading the people through falsehood. He remains a chief of the palace but all we are saying is that he cannot represent us in UTC. We have made out choice and that stands. The law or 1979 Edict made it explicit that a non-chief could be elected into UTC and anyone so elected automatically becomes a Chief. That is the law and there are no provisions that say after the coronation of the King, the law will cease to exist.

Your advice to Government and the people!

What I have for the state government is commendation in standing for the truth. Udu is on the path of peace and Chief Vincent Oyibode, our God-sent executive Chairman is working hard with the people to place Udu on the path of peace, prosperity and harmony. Those beating the drums of war because they could not be selected should toll the path of peace because everybody cannot be selected at the same time. On this matter, Otima and his gang lost out. They should embrace the winners. 

The gazette does not provide any space for seniority of chieftaincy titles in election into UTC. We are following the laws and whoever is not comfortable should push for amendment of the extant rules. But for now, whatever we do must be guided by the existing laws less we run foul of the laws. Permit me to also advise the Council Chairman not to listen to the noise from the camp of those who do not wish Udu well. Power belongs to the people and not one man less dictatorship will thrive.

The Council Chairman should withhold the release of entitlements to the UTC until it is fully constituted in line with government order. The era of supremacy of the King over the desire and will of the entire people is gone. There are no supreme kings anymore, but mostly those enthroned by the democratic choice or rotational arrangements in place. So the people have roles to play and that is what they have done in this matter.

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