Tompolo, army bicker over missing Egbesu sword
The alleged stealing of the Egbesu deity sword by the soldiers who invaded the community to rout the militants blowing up oil pipelines keeps generating fury among the people. Now, they insist that they want their god and other lost memorabilia backAGOZINO AGOZINO writes
IN recent time, the Gbaramatu Kingdom/Army controversy over who stole the Egbesu deity sword continues to generate heated arguments.
Controversy seems to trail every account, but, no side of the divide would budge. Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, a prominent son of the town and former militant said the reason why the community would not keep silent is because the ancestral sword represents the symbol of authority for the people. Okporoza, a community in the Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Warri South-West Local Government of Delta State, has never been the same since soldiers who are in search of militants who have been blowing up oil and gas facilities stormed the community recently.
Made of 19 Ijaw-speaking autonomous communities, namely Tebujor, Opodobubo, Opuede, Okpelama, Epopo, Sagara, Azama, Ibefan, Inikorohgha, Ugoba, Kunukunama, Okerenkoko and Kurutie , Kokodiagbene, Ebama, Benikrukru, Abiteye, Kenyagbe and Oporoza, the Kingdom has the Pere of Gbaramagu as its ruler and the people venerate theEgbesu goddess.
Controversy seems to trail every account, but, no side of the divide would budge. Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, a prominent son of the town and former militant said the reason why the community would not keep silent is because the ancestral sword represents the symbol of authority for the people. Okporoza, a community in the Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Warri South-West Local Government of Delta State, has never been the same since soldiers who are in search of militants who have been blowing up oil and gas facilities stormed the community recently.
Made of 19 Ijaw-speaking autonomous communities, namely Tebujor, Opodobubo, Opuede, Okpelama, Epopo, Sagara, Azama, Ibefan, Inikorohgha, Ugoba, Kunukunama, Okerenkoko and Kurutie , Kokodiagbene, Ebama, Benikrukru, Abiteye, Kenyagbe and Oporoza, the Kingdom has the Pere of Gbaramagu as its ruler and the people venerate theEgbesu goddess.
The monarch of the kingdom is His Majesty, Pere Naira Williams Ogoba, a new monarch who is awaiting the handover of his staff of office, a golden sword kept in custody of the chief priest of the Egbesu Shrine, to him by the state government.
Tompolo sees the disappearance of the deity as sacrilege to his people and had asked President Muhammadu Buhari, for the return of the sword which is the symbol of the people’s heritage. Since the authorities declared him wanted for his alleged role in the resurgence of militancy in the Gbaramatu Kingdom, the militant leader warned that Nigeria might be heading for danger.
Tompolo, in an open letter to the President, said that the incident occurred recently, when soldiers invaded Oporoza in his absence in search of him on allegation that he was behind the bombing of oil facilities in the region. Besides the abomination, he said they also placed the traditional ruler of Gbaramatu kingdom under house arrest for one week. He asserted: “As I said in my previous publications, the military made away with the symbol of authority of the Gbaramatu people from the Egbesu Shrine of which I am the Chief Priest.
” They also made away with other valuables worth several millions of naira from the community. The most annoying one is the purported arrest of 10 young promising men, most of whom are orphans, who are secondary school students sitting for the West African Senior Secondary School Examinations (WASSCE) and other palace staff, and labeled them as members of the Niger Delta Avengers.
“As I write you now, these innocent young promising men are still with your military for no reason. This is truly man’s inhumanity to man in our own country. We are presently being treated like conquered people because of crude oil.” He appealed to the President “to please kindly direct your army to return the looted items, including the symbol of authority, and also release those innocent young men to continue their academic programme, even though they have missed the WASSCE for this year.
For some natives who spoke on the issue, they agreed that it was nothing than deprivation of access to their traditional heritage which the Egbesu shrine represents.
For Nengi Pere, the soldiers who invaded the shrine had no good conscience and moral right tramplining on their revered deity. “It is the height of power intoxication and taboo committed, thus desecrating our heritage.’’
Even with heavy military presence in the communities as observers believe the soldiers were on alert to ward off reprisal attack by the militants, he vowed that gods will avenge for the humiliation meted out to the people.
Also not taking it easy on the atrocity committed against Oporoza, Felix Eradim sees the approach by the military had “incurred the wrath of the gods.’’ According to him, “the gods are very angry with the soldiers because it is an abomination which will continue to hunt them and their children. ’For incurring the wrath of the gods he believes that nemesis will catch up with them may be in the long as a retribution.
This sad development has not gone down well with the community leaders. According James Ebi, the unwholesome act on the part of the military will continue to haunt them. “Our people have been living in fear and anguish but retaliation is of gods unless they change their attitude.’’
Implication of this absurd act on the culture of the people and the community if not quickly addressed, the fear of the unknown will continue to grip them for cutting off their deity from them as the chief priest maintained that “making the normal sacrifices to our ancestors is been denied and unconfortable for me.’’
Still Tomplo recalled that when this same military invaded several communities in Gbaramatu kingdom, under the command of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. traditional worship centres were desecrated, properties were looted and above all, the multi-billion naira ultra-modern magnificent palace of the Pere of Gbaramatu kingdom was burned down, and his golden crown was stolen by the military. As peace loving people, he said the kingdom approached the courts and demanded compensation for the unlawful invasion and destruction of property, in which the court awarded 99 billion naira in favour of Gbaramatu kingdom. But after seven years of that sad incident, the Federal Government is yet to pay the compensation” According to him, this incident also led to the declaration of the Presidential Amnesty programme for peace to reign, as the government found out that military action is not the best way to address the Niger Delta question and the rest become a history in the life of those who led that invasion.
This sad development has not gone down well with the community leaders. According James Ebi, the unwholesome act on the part of the military will continue to haunt them. “Our people have been living in fear and anguish but retaliation is of gods unless they change their attitude.’’
Implication of this absurd act on the culture of the people and the community if not quickly addressed, the fear of the unknown will continue to grip them for cutting off their deity from them as the chief priest maintained that “making the normal sacrifices to our ancestors is been denied and unconfortable for me.’’
Still Tomplo recalled that when this same military invaded several communities in Gbaramatu kingdom, under the command of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. traditional worship centres were desecrated, properties were looted and above all, the multi-billion naira ultra-modern magnificent palace of the Pere of Gbaramatu kingdom was burned down, and his golden crown was stolen by the military. As peace loving people, he said the kingdom approached the courts and demanded compensation for the unlawful invasion and destruction of property, in which the court awarded 99 billion naira in favour of Gbaramatu kingdom. But after seven years of that sad incident, the Federal Government is yet to pay the compensation” According to him, this incident also led to the declaration of the Presidential Amnesty programme for peace to reign, as the government found out that military action is not the best way to address the Niger Delta question and the rest become a history in the life of those who led that invasion.
