The traditional ruler of Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom in Delta State, His Majesty Obi Ifechukwude Anishi Okonjo II recently took possession of the ancestral palace of the ancient kingdom after 23 years of legal battle. He speaks with ALPHONSUS AGBORH on his victory, among other issues.
What led to the battle between two brothers?
The contest was between two royal homes in the sense we are relatives. The Umudei and Umuoba Obahai families, which I belong to. Obahai is the older brother of Dei and reigned as king of Ogwashi, but didn’t have a son early and as he was about to die, he called his brother to look over his throne as a regent till his son would mature enough to take over the throne. But rather than look after the throne, Obahai’s brother for full occupation of the throne. That’s where the struggle started.
How come the repossession of the palace was met with some resistance?
Legal officers of the state court, specifically bailiffs from Asaba came to OgwashiUku for an execution ordered by the court. Specifically, there is a warrant of possession for the palace of OgwashiUku. The family was in a legal battle for about 23 years with the Umudei relatives and in 2007, a judgment was given by Justice Osajie of blessed memory. That judgment gave the rulership to the Umuobi Obahai royal family and part of the judgment was that they hand over all emblems and properties belonging to the royal family, which include the palace itself. A warrant of possession was given as far back as 2007.
The late Obi, my father then felt that it would be premature to execute the order since the people had the right of appeal. They subsequently went to the higher court and lost at the Court of Appeal in 2009. They appealed again to the Supreme Court and on November 21st 2021, the court presided over by Justice Mary Odili, delivered a judgment dismissing the appeal and reaffirming the judgement of the Court of Appeal. So, based on that, the coast was clear for us to implement the judgment of the lower court which included the warrant of possession of the palace.
When court officials went in there, there were resistance from a lot of people carrying dangerous weapons like machetes, cutlasses, locally made explosives and the police have to support, because they felt it was a threat. As I explained, this battle has been on for a while and we have been through a lot. What we did was to follow the legal processes to see the final conclusion and eventually we took possession of the palace.
How do you intend to sanctify the whole place that has not been habited for years?
We have our various traditions and types of worship and I am a Christian. I thank God for delivering the palace to us. And there will be a time when we will bring in people to pray as a way to sanctify the whole environment.
The palace is in total disrepair. Everywhere is unkempt with so many encroachments from people. It is not habitable. Extensive work has to be done to make it habitable. The question is, do we want to retain the structures, because some of them were not built to standard.
It’s a health hazard, particularly when you have things that create health problems. So what we need to do is remove those things that are bad and put in new materials that are not dangerous. We will try and retain what we can, because of the ancient buildings. The buildings are historic and we need to build them up to standard, but they are not habitable and that can create problem. So we will definitely remove them.
Is there any attempt to reach out to the aggrieved persons?
We have always reached out. My late father refused to execute the court order to possess the palace, because he believed that in a judicial process, you must allow people to exhaust their options. We did not rush into execution, even though we had the warrant of possession since 2007. He could have executed, but he allowed them to go through the process as he felt we will always win, because the facts were clear.
The judgment was very strong and there was no way the facts on the ground could be changed. We have always been magnanimous in victory; we have considered the fact that we are related.We have not defeated them, no! The idea is that we will live together as one. When a man is pursuing his interest, he does so with a lot of zeal, but when the storm is over, you can now call everybody together to form a common course.
We do not intend to deal harshly with them. We understand how sentimental and emotional it is for them, but at the end of the day, they should see it as a victory for all. We intend to run an inclusive administration and to call them and make them understand that they are not going to be treated badly.
And to the people of the entire kingdom?
We thank God for everything; we come in peace and we mean no harm to anybody. All the people here are our brothers; my subjects and I intend to deal with them fairly. We have extended the olive branch to them; we are not going to continue to fight and this place is going to move forward. It is my hope that they would listen and come knowing that we are all related in one way or the other. For us, it is a victory for Ogwashi-Uku, not for the UmuobiObahai alone, because we are going to chart a course to develop this kingdom. We are going to work with everybody; nobody is an enemy here. Obviously when you are defending your interest, you do so with so much zeal, but now that the storm is over, we can all come together as one.
Everybody in Ogwashi-Uku has a stake in this palace, and we will deal with everybody fairly, kindness and forthrightness. We will be transparent and we will be held accountable for our actions. We do not come to destroy or foment trouble; we have come to welcome you and say this is a new beginning.
How soon can the full possession of the palace be?
We are in consultation now. Since it’s a palace that belongs to Ogwashi; we have to include all in decision-making. We are mindful of what Ogwashi people want. The timeline is that we should start work immediately, but still there are ongoing legal processes and we just got the certificate of final possession from government and we are following the legal steps being advised by lawyers.
We try to follow things legally so we don’t run foul of the law. We want to also consult with our brothers to let them know we mean well. We would move very quickly to start doing the work we should do but we would do that after consulting people of Ogwashi. We are going to send in quantity surveyors, civil engineers. To build a befitting place, we have to take certain decisions, because we are not thinking about today alone, but tomorrow.
I will like to see a palace with modern facilities such as internet, good electricity, a place of sports and entertainment. There are a lot of things that are going through our minds. The Queen of England does not have just one palace. This one can be renovated, so that events like the Iwu festival and other traditional ceremonies can hold there, but that doesn’t constitute the residence of the new monarch.
Some persons in one of your satellite towns, Otulu some time ago attacked your convoy. Has peace finally returned to the community?
When we went to Otulu, we were attacked by hoodlums; cars were burnt, and in the process, someone lost his life. For the purpose of security, we haven’t gone back. When that happened a lot of people in Ogwashi were upset because of the way they treated the monarchy because my brother was also involved.
We were able to subdue them and tell them violence doesn’t solve issues. To calm the situation down, I haven’t been there since. What we understand was that the young man who led the hoodlums has installed himself as Obi (traditional ruler) of Otulu. We have written to the government, but it has not acted.
Just about a year and half ago, he signed a document as youth leader of Otulu-ogwashi. He has been terrorising the people and had driven those people who are not on his side away. Peace haven’t quite returned to the community yet and it still remains a den of criminality and terrorism against people who are not on their side.
The facts are clear that Otulu belongs to Ogwashi. Anybody can claim anything, but at the end we deal with facts. To make the facts clearer, I have taken the matter to court.
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