Barely two years after the suspension of Chief Ayiri Emami as Ologbotsere of Warri and Chairman of the Olu Advisory Council, one of the masterminds of the action has declared that they acted in error. A Prince of Warri Kingdom, Prince Yemi Emiko disclosed this in an interview.
Prince Emiko’s startling revelation was on the heels of an outburst by an elder in the Warri Kingdom, Mene Brown, that the Princes have no say in running affairs at the Olu palace and the Itsekiri Kingdom.
Checks revealed that Chief Emami was suspended as Prime Minister of Warri, following the crisis that trailed the selection of the sitting Olu of Warri, Tsola Emiko as Olu designate.
Ayiri had insisted that the selection of Prince Emiko as Omoba following the passage of Ogiame Ikenwoli ran foul of the process to the enthronement of a new Olu.
Further checks revealed that the peace moves initiated by the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, last year hit the rocks as the Olu of Warri, His Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III, last April installed Chief Oma Eyewuoma as the new Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom. Before his installation, Eyewuoma was the Aboludero of the Warri Kingdom.
Prince Emiko maintained that with the pronouncement of Chief Brown that the Princes have no say in the operation of the Olu palace, it invariably meant that the suspension of Chief Emami was done in error and consequently, null and void in the eyes of the law.
He said:” In 2021, I, Yemi Emiko took the lead in the activities that suspended Ayiri Emami from being Ologbotsere, we appointed Iyatsere, as acting Chairman Council of Chiefs.
That singular action paved the way for the current Olu to mount the throne. If Mene Brown is saying I, as a Prince or princes in Warri Kingdom don’t have a say, then automatically, he is saying that everything we did at that time is illegal.”
Asked if the action against Chief Ayiri was illegal, Prince Emiko refrained from speaking in the affirmative as he noted that the action was already being challenged in Court.
“As you know the matter is already in court, we took certain actions and I am not sitting here to tell you that every action we took at the time was 100 per cent correct or legal because we have a law that regulates, that governs succession processes in Warri Kingdom and the law is very clear.
“We took certain steps, certain actions in the hope that when the Olu emerges, Itsekiri will sit down and look at those provisions of that law and see how best we can tinker with it to be in compliance.
“Because it is today, we are leaving ourselves open because the matter is in court already and it’s subjudice. I don’t want to get deep into all of that.
But when elders like Chief Brown Mene come out to be saying this kind of thing, it leaves a lot of sour taste in my mouth because I expect elders like him to take action and say things that will bring people together, that will bring the kingdom together and not to further tear us apart.”
Describing the last April removal of Chief Emami as Ologbotsere and installation of a new holder of the title as unfortunate, he noted that the axed Prime Minister of Warri Kingdom committed no crime as he was trying to protect the laws guiding the installation of Olu of Warri.
He said further: ” It isn’t that Ayiri committed any crime, No! Ayiri, I will say this a million times that Ayiri did not commit any crime against anybody in this land. All Ayiri did was stand by the law. Ayiri is not the one who wrote the law, but if you look, Ologbotsere is the one written all over the place as the owner of the process.
He came to say the way I know this thing is like this, but we did some things because we saw that this guy was popular among the youths.
And I called some of the elders that this is our own #EndSARS protest, they want this guy, let’s try and find a way to put him on the throne after which we can then sit down to amend the law.
But they got there and threw everybody away. I’m yet to see what the crime is all about.”
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