There was a new twist on Monday to the royal battle bedeviling the
Itsekiri nation as the Ologbotsere of Warri, second-in-command to the
Olu throne, Chief Ayirimi Emami, declared the purported announcement of
the passage of the Olu Ogiame Ikenwoli as illegal, null and void.
The Ologbotsere, also declared the unveiling of Prince Tsola Emiko on
Monday April 5 by some group of persons, as successor to the throne as
illegal.
The Ologbotsere, in a spontaneous reaction to the announcement made at
Ode-Itsekiri by the Iyatsere of Warri kingdom, Chief Johnson
Atserunleghe insisted that the revered Warri monarch has not joined his
ancestors.
In a terse statement, the Ologbotsere declared; “The Olu has not joined
his ancestors. As far as I am concerned, whatever was done today at
Ode-Itsekiri was kangaroo in search of power.
“The person that has the right to pronounce the transition of the Olu of
Warri, whenever that happens, is the Ologbotsere, which I am till this
moment by the grace of God. I must add that the 1979 edict has not been
amended to give any other person the right to pronounce the passage of
the Olu of Warri, apart from the Ologbotsere “.
The Iyatsere of Warri, Chief Johnson Amatserunreleghe, had at a brief
ceremony at Ode-Itsekiri announced the son of Atuwatse ll, the 19th Olu
of Warri, Prince Tsola Emiko, as the new Olu of Warri.
Amatserunreleghe, also officially announced the passage of His Royal
Majesty, Ogiame Ikenwoli at the Ode-Itsekiri, the ancestral home of the
Itsekiri people.
The announcement followed week-long of intrigues and bitter tirade which
had greeted the Olu throne in the past few months.
But Ayiri Emami declared that the 1979 edict which gazetted the
traditional processes, passage and enthronement procedure of a new Olu,
which has not been amended till date, give no other person the right to
pronounce the passage of the Olu of Warri, apart from the Ologbotsere.
He insisted that not until he officially announced the passage of an Olu
as stated in the Edict as reigning Ologbotsere, anything done is null
and void and would never stand the test of time.