…Call on Delta State commissioner to intervene
By Francis Sadhere
The Families of Tifo and Makro leaders of thought in Okere Urhobo Kingdom, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State have cried out for justice over what it described as Okere Urhobo current hostile disposition against them, calling on the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to intervene in the matter to forestall break down of law and order in the kingdom.
The two families said they can no longer sit and fold their hands while the rest of the other three families continue to treat them as slaves in their own lands, warning that they will no longer condone these acts of unprovoked and unwarranted aggression against us anymore.
The group made this stand in a statement signed by Brig. Gen. Gold Eburu (rtd.), Hon. Mathew Poko, A.U. Iahorue and Frank Akopriaye and made available to our correspondent in Warri.
According to the statement, the Okere Urhobo Kingdom from time immemorial is made up of five families namely, Olodi, Ighogbadu, Oki, Tifo and Makro and relations and friends, but lamented that the families of Tifo and Makro have been marginalized under the present dispensation as they do not have representation in the Board of Trustee, a body that lords over the common wealth of the kingdom.
This sad development is made possible by the handwork of some internal collaborators and opportunistic elements working in concert with some external forces (Ighogbadu and Oki) who are in Diaspora to undermine the interest of Tifo and Makro for their selfish gains, the statement noted.
The statement reads further, This hostile disposition of the current dispensation against the Tifo and Makro families became manifestly clear and self-evident with the deliberate abandonment and neglect of the present Okpako-Orere, Pa Dickson Eburu because he is from an enemy territory, Makro family mapped out along with the Tifo family for marginalization and victimization. It is sad to note that the list of deliberate denial of the Tifo and Makro families rights till date is endless.
Consequently, the two families demanded that hence forth, the five families in the kingdom should be treated as equal partners on all issues of political, economic rights and privileges.
They also demanded that it was the turn of either Tifo, Makro or Oki family to produce the next management committee chairman, saying that the olodi and Ighogbadu families have already produced the chairmen since the inception of the management.
The Tifo and Makro Families of the Okere Urhobo kingdom further demanded that they be represented at the BOT, saying progress in the politics was about the development of the kingdom and not division of the kingdom.
They added that a united Okere Urhobo will better serve the interest of all in the long term than sectional and divisive agenda that was currently being pursued as a community policy, adding that all identifiable causes of imbalance and marginalization in the kingdom should be corrected in the interest of natural justice and moral fairness.
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