Yoruba, Itsekiri are brothers, says OlWarriu of 

The Olu of Warri, HRM King Godfrey Ikenwoli Emiko, Ogiame Ikenwoli 1, has said that the Yorubas and Itsekiris are brothers.

The monarch was speaking at Lagos House when he paid the Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, a courtesy visit on Monday.

“My appeal is that we are part of you, not minding the geographical distance. There are lots of Itsekiris in Lagos and there are lots of Yorubas in Warri. I want such relationship to continue and pray that we should sustain it.

“The Oba of Lagos left his throne and sat with me and this is just a confirmation that we are brothers that must not be separated. I’m happy sitting with the governor as a member of the same family”, he said.

Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode also emphasised the need for the ethnic nationalities in the country to live harmoniously. He made this statement while receiving the Olu of Warri.

Ambode said that such was the condition-precedent for peace, progress and development to thrive. He also said the quantum of development which the nation would experience in a harmonious and peaceful environment cannot be underestimated, and therefore all hands must be on deck to promote peace.

The governor recalled that the history of the Yoruba nation cannot be complete without reference to the Itsekiri nation, and as such, both tribes must jealously guard and improve on the historical relationship.

The governor, who congratulated King Emiko on the successful ascension to the throne of his forefathers few months back, said he believed so much in the ability of the monarch to turn around the fortunes of Warri for good as he had been doing even before his appointment as king.

Governor Ambode also assured the monarch of the strong commitment of his administration to the welfare of the Itsekiris in Lagos.

The governor said: “We believe so much in him (King Emiko) and his community; we believe just the way he has said that we are brothers and that anything that concerns the Warri community is the concern of the Yoruba community and like he rightly said, this visit once again emphasised the need for all of us to foster peace and harmonious relationship together.

“We are strongly committed to the needs of the people of Itsekiri land because we know that by history, the coming of Olu of Warri to Lagos from Ile-Ife is significant to show the Yoruba hegemony that we have always wanted and we will continue to preach about.

There is nothing we want to say about the history or the story of Yoruba nation that we can afford to leave out the Itsekiri. If you look at the name of our titles, our languages and our culture, you will obviously find out that there is a symbiotic relationship between us which we must guard jealously and also improve upon as we proceed,” Governor Ambode said.

He also prayed for the monarch that his reign would bring about greater prosperity and peace to Warri land.

Earlier, King Emiko said he was happy to be at the Lagos House because his visit was a home coming experience for him.

He thanked Governor Ambode for identifying with the people of Warri during the mourning period of the late monarch and during his coronation service three months ago.

He said: “I came in from Ile-Ife to this place and the way the Ooni of Ife received myself and my entourage confirmed the fact that we are from the same heritage. As a matter of fact, I had the honour to first receive and bless his new wife and when I got to the palace of Oba of Lagos this morning, the reception too was like home coming”, he added.

“We are on continuous monitoring approach where we monitor the state based on the information they provide, if we have a finding during this exercise, we will continue to monitor it for the adjustment and classification of Nigeria”, he said.

Waffo was in company of three other auditors from ICAO, Mr. Seboseso Machobane, Mr. Thormdur Thormodsson and Mr. Ioan-Dorin Primac.

Speaking earlier, the Director General of the NCAA, Captain Muhtar Usman said that the USOAP Audits are usually focused on a state’s capabilities to provide a robust safety oversight system, and that the world agency does this by assessing whether the state has effectively and consistently implemented the critical elements.

He said that the audit consists of three phases, the Pre-audit, onsite phase and the post audit.

“At the Pre-audit phase, the information provided by the NCAA in the State Aviation Activity Questionnaire (SAAQ), Protocol Questions (PQs), Compliance Checklist (CCs), Electronic Filing of Differences (EFOD), and Corrective Action Plan (CAP) have been reviewed by the Safety Oversight section of ICAO.

“An analysis of our safety oversight establishment has been done including a review of the implementation of Annexes provisions and the difference from the Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs) that were identified in the SAAQ and CCs” Captain Usman said.

According to him, this process allows ICAO to tailor the audit in accordance with the level and complexity of aviation activities in the state and determine the duration of the audit and composition of the team.

Muktar further said that the audit is at the Onsite phase and that the team has come to Nigeria to authenticate information provided by Nigeria.

“Let me inform you that the Audit is at the On-site phase as we are witnessing today. During this phase, the state is visited by an ICAO audit team to validate the information provided by Nigeria. The team will therefore conduct an onsite audit of Nigeria’s system and overall capability for safety audit”

Muktar further said that the post-audit encompasses all the activities following the onsite audit. It includes the preparation of the audit interim report, the development by the state of its Corrective Action Plan (CAP), and the completion of the audit final report.

The four-man ICAO team will focus on Legislation (LEG), Organisation (ORG), Accident and Incident Investigation (AIG), Air Navigational Services (ANS) and Aerodrome and Ground Aids (AGA).