Quite recently, without consulting their neighbouring tribes, the mixed community of Warri Township, the Itsekiri people, with the approval of the present government of the Western Region have changed the title of their ruling head from the Olu Itsekiri to the Olu of Warri.

The announcement of the change was made through the local radio service in Warri Township and since then, the Urhobo people have strongly protested against the change to the government through the Resident of the Province.

1. It would appear from all events that the present Olu, Erejuwa II, is out to break historical records and to create new ones. In spite of the fact that Ode Itsekiri had been the revered seat, and therefore, the headquarters of all the seventeen Olus that reigned before him, Erejuwa II, moved his seat to a small village called Ekurode a few miles from Warri Township by Okere. There he must build a palace. Now he has thrown overboard the time-honoured title of his fathers. In a way, we are in a great sympathy with the Olu. Left alone, he would no doubt prefer to maintain the hoary
   traditions of his royal ancestors, but being what he is in the hands of certain Itsekiri young men, he must dance to their tune instead of the other way round. All this, of course, is the business of the Itsekiri people, and it must remain so except where any change affects directly or indirectly the interest of other tribal groups in Warri Province. The Urhobo people say and maintain without prevarication that the change of the Olu’s title is inimical to them; they have therefore protested and will ever protest against it.
2. We own the onus to adduce reasons for our protest but before doing so however, we consider it necessary to say a few words, perhaps in an historical way, about the Olu, Itsekiri people and their original home. In the course of this we shall also touch on their commercial activities with early European traders, and how from that source the British government extended its administration to Urhobo land. Finally, we shall conclude with an attempt to give our readers the true perspective, politically, of the position of the Itsekiris vis-à-vis their Urhobo neighbours. And we hope that by the time we finish, our reasons for the objection will be so clear as not to require further elucidation.

THE TITLE OLU ITSEKIRI

1. According to some historians and writers, the Itsekiri Kingdom was founded by Iginua, the son of Olua, an Oba of Benin who reigned from about 1473 to 1480. Olua invested Iginua with the title ODIHI-NA-ME (meaning the depth of water) but the Itsekiri cailed him “OLU ITSEKIRI”.
2. That has in fact been the title from the beginning of the Kingdom up till the time of Olu Akengbuwa who died on the 14th of June, 1848. Akengbuwa’s death was however followed by a great lasting confusion in Itsekiri-land. His son who should succeed him on the throne died suddenly miraculously on the 18th of June, 1848, four days after the father’s, and the next son also died in quick succession thereafter. A riot ensued and no Olu was installed until February, 1936, when Giriuwa II ascended the Itsekiri throne. Thus there was an interregnum of some 88 years.
3. Ginuwa II died on the 8th of January, 1949, and was succeeded in March, 1951, by the present Olu, Erejuwa II. THE ITSEKIRI PEOPLE
4. According to William Moore, an Itsekiri man, the Olu called Ijijen drifted to a town the inhabitants of which were called “ITSEKIRI”. The people had been variously referred to by Europeans from the early days of coastal trade as SHAKRI, ZAKRI, ZEKRI, DZEKRI, IZEKRI, ISHEKIRI, TCHEKRE, JAKRY, JAKRI, JEKERI and JEKRI, the last four being the most recently anglicised forms.
5. The people’s true origin appears to be uncertain, but according to popular legends, they came from the Yoruba country. Talbot believed that they were Ekiti Yorubas who came there through Benin. Others thought that they were coastal Ijebus or Mahins who travelled the coast farther down south for habitation. In any case, the relevant point here is that a people known as Itsekiri accepted an Oba who found his way to them as their Olu, hence the title OLU ITSEKIRI. ODE ITSEKIRI (WARRI)
6. The town in which the Olu found the people had been known as “ODE ITSEKIRI” (capital of Itsekiri) and it had until the reign of the present Olu been the seat of the Olus. This town had long been associated with a name similar to the present anglicised name “WARRI”. “IWERRE” or “IWERRI” was the name by which the Binins called the Itsekiri people. The name had been spelt and pronounced variously by different early European missionaries, explorers and traders who came in contact with the town from as far back as the 16th century.
7. Between 1651 and about 1668, according to URBANUS CERRI, the town was referred to as “ANWERRE” and according to Roth it was “AUWERRE”. Dr. Dapper called it “OWWERRE”, while in about 1682, Father Jerome Merolla da Sorrento writing about two Catholic Priests who went there in 1682 referred to it as the Kingdom of “OUUERRI”.
8. David Van Nyendael, a Dutchman, writing from on board the Yacht “JOHANNA MARIA” on 1st September, 1702, called it “AWERRI” while John Barbot called it variously indiscriminately as “DOWERE”, “AWERRI”, “OUWERRI”, “OVEIRO” and “FORCADOS”. It has variously been referred to also as OWERE, OWIHERE, AWERRE, WARRE, and QUARRE.
9. From about 1789 to 1857, others like Adams, Boteler, John Beecroft, Commander Tudor of H.B.M.St.Vepel “FIREFLY” and Consul Campbell of Lagos, all referred to Ode Itsekiri as “WARRE” or “WARREE” and as comparatively recently as 1934, Mr. Jacob Egharevba of Benin in his book referred to it as “OWHERE”. Apparently the present anglicised form “WARRI” was coined from WARRE or WARREE.
10. Ode Itsekiri was probably a town of some respectable size. In about 1668 according to Roth, the inhabitants were about 3,000 but in about 1789, Dr. Dapper estimated them to be about 5,000. By the standard of those days that population may be regarded as large.
11. However with the death of Olu Akengbuwa and the unfortunate incidents that followed, a great exodus ensued and the town started to fall into ruins. The position deteriorated progressively until the town lost whatever greatness it had. The following account of Commander R.G. Craigie, then the Senior Naval Officer of the Admiralty in the Bights of Benin and Biafra, who visited the town in August 1884 with Consul Hewett, Chief Nana and Chief Chanomi confirmed this. Commander Craigie observed “The town of Warri is a mere shadow of its former greatness, the broad streets being overgrown with lime trees and bush, and many of the clay houses in ruins; formerly five English firms had factories there, but all removed to Benin River in 1873”.
12. To most Itsekiris, the town is a sacred place for the burial of their dead and the offer to ancestral spirits of annual sacrifices. In 1890, Sir Alfred Moloney, one of the earliest Governors of Lagos, made the following observation: “Jakry men have a great veneration for Warre. The corpses of ‘big men’ are taken there for burial after death; while in the case of ‘small men‘ only the hair and toe and finger nails are taken there”.

(Signed) T. E. A. SALUBI 5th September 1952 To be continued…….