Obomkpa-Ugboba Crisis: Historic Claims, Counter-claims and Government Recognition of Ugboba as an Anioma Autonomous Community in Delta State

Obomkpa-Ugboba Crisis: Historic Claims, Counter-claims and Government Recognition of Ugboba as an Anioma Autonomous Community in Delta State

By Emeka Esogbue

INTRODUCTION

The above topic, an investigation of this author who is a fervent and wholehearted writer on the people of Anioma, geographically located in the Northern part of Delta State of Nigeria into the shared legal, historical, and colonial claims; offensive and defensive assertion of the people's communal right and geography, makes scholarly interest for several reasons, part of which is captured in the conclusion of this piece. One of the reasons is that the controversy bedeviling Obomkpa and Ugboba, two sisterly communities with common boundaries and a common claim of homestead source of migration, is nearly a hundred years old, and even with various interventions by the local organs of both communities with strong affirmation and the intercession by the nation's highest court with final appellate jurisdiction, the matter continues to burn expressively in the minds of indigenes of both communities.

There is also severe incongruity between what is to be expected in the accounts of the true situations and what occurred from the indigenes of Obomkpa and Ugboba. With both communities holding on to specious arguments, any interested interventionist may have so much sieving to do to test the suitability of the information received from both divides. For instance, both communities are often quick to point to Supreme Court judgments to favour their positions. Everything may seem peacefully alright from both ends but there is the irony of witty languages which convey scorn from both ends. The exact imagery projections of saying one thing and implying the opposite are also prevalent. One is likely to hear we are peaceful people but the peace does not in veracity or certainty transform into the serene agreement to co-exist as a people within a defined geography or separate autonomous communities, side by side with each other.

This invites many arranged elements of complexity to anyone interested in the issue especially as accounts presented by the parties to the dispute appear compellingly persuasive at the same time.

THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

·       Why was it impossible to co-exist as one indivisible body of a community?

·       Why was it impossible to exist as two autonomous communities or kingdoms?

·       Why was it impossible to fall under the name of Obomkpa?

·       Why was it impossible to accept the autonomy of Ugboba?

·       How was it possible for a kingdom with monarchs to stop having monarchs and fall under another kingdom?

·       How was Ugboba who was neither Ezechime nor Odian Clan categorized as a member of both clans at different times?

·       Why did Ugboba choose Odiani over Ezechime?

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO OBOMKPA AND UGBOBA COMMUNITIES

Obomkpa      

To understand the issue under discussion, one needs a historical background of the Obomkpa and Ugboba communities as a guide. Obomkpa is an agrarian settlement located in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. It is bounded in the South by Ubulubu town, in the North by Idumuogo town, in the East by Ukwunzu town, in the West by Ugboba, in the Northwest by Onicha-Olona and in the Southeast by Ezi. It is one of the Ezechime communities geographically surrounded by Ezechime and Olukunmi settlements as neighbors. Information provided by Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia regarding the community states that she is situated within the geographical coordinates of 6°24′55″N 6°29′29″E/6.41528°N 6.49139°E.

The people of Obomkpa are often proud of their community and may be taken as one of the most patriotic Enuani indigenes in their community. Hardly, would anyone hear an Obomkpa indigene revile his community on any ground as one may hear of other Anioma indigenes especially when everything has not added up. The average Obomkpa indigene is devoted to the communal cause, the reason, the people's socio-cultural activities are marked with commitment and a high turnout of participants. The community is also regarded as one of Anioma's most traditionalistic areas. The major occupations of the people in Obomkpa are farming, hunting, and petty trading. However, mining is carried out in the area, making it one of the richest Anioma communities in terms of this mineral resource availability.   

The history of the origin or migration of the Obomkpa is best referenced in a matter presented to the Supreme Court of Nigeria titled "Otuaha Akpapuna & Ors Vs Nzeka Ii &ors (1986) LLJR-SC, dated 10 Mar 2023 and published by LawGlobal Hub Lead Judgment Report. The said matter renders a historical account of the flight of Ezechime from Benin presently in Edo State. For this article, this historical account presented and admitted by the Nigerian court of law shall be utilized as a reference point in determining the foundation of the settlement.       

From the publication, Anagba, a member of the family of Chima, Chime, Ezechima, Ezechime (or Ovbi Ikhime as known to the Bini), a Chief under an Oba of the old Benin Kingdom was the founder of the Obomkpa community according to the legend of the people also widely accepted in Benin. The legend insists that Ezechime had issues with the Oba of Benin who ordered his warriors to arrest him and fearing for his life, Ezechime fled with his household that included Onicha, Ado, Adago, Ohaeze, Anagba, Ifite, Ukpali Oligbo, Gbuwalo, Esigie and Alimini Ugo. This would lead to the foundation of Enuani settlements within the region now known as Anioma. The settlements are Onicha-Ugbo, Obomkpa, Ezi, Onicha-Ukwu, Issele-Uku, Issele-Mkpitime, Obior, Onicha-Olona, Issele-Azagba and Onicha Ado n'Idu (later anglicized to Onitsha. Now geographically lying in Anambra State). Anagba, the Obomkpa's earliest ancestor is noted to be a great medicine man who would frequently consult the oracle and upon the oracular message settled on the present Obomkpa site.

PAST AND PRESENT TRADITIONAL RULERS OF OBOMKPA

• Obi Anagba (1598 – 1630, 42 years)
• Obi Ado (1630 – 1675, 45 years)
• Obi Onalo (1675 – 1715, 40 years)
• Obi Ngwuogiliga (1715 – 1745, 30 years)
• Obi Obome (1745 – 1770, 25 years)
• Obi Uya (1770 – 1804, 34 years)
• Obi Usifo (1804 – 1863, 59 years)
• Obi Dibie (1863 – 1903, 40 years)
• Obi Chidi (1903 – 1943, 40 years)
• Obi Nsuebo (1943 – 1955, 12 years)
• Obi Ezeka (1955 – 2006, 52 years)
• Obi Jonathan (2006 – 2017, 11 years)
• Obi Onyemaechi Josiah Kanyinaga I (2017 – present)

Source: Wikipedia

Ugboba

Ugboba is a community in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. The settlement was once considered part of Obomkpa but it is now categorized as a member of the Odiani Clan instead of the Ezechime because of the autonomy granted her by the Delta State Government ending the dispute of a quarter claim of Obomkpa, the other party. In other words, the settlement is now one of the Yoruba settlements in the heart of Anioma as a member of the Odiani Clan which also includes Ukwunzu, Idumuogo, Ubulubu, and Ogodo, all being Yoruba-speaking settlements that migrated from Nigeria's Southwest Region to settle in the present Enuani axis of Anioma. The word "Olukunmi" from which the name of the people of the area is derived implies "My friend or crony" in ancient Yoruba language. Ukwunzu is considered the traditional headquarters of the Odiani clan while the Obi of Ukwunzu is also the traditional clan head of the Odiani Clan.

Ugboba is bordered in the North by Ohordua, Northeast by Ubulubu, East by Obomkpa, Southeast by Ukwunzu, and South by Ugbodu. Like the Obomkpa people, the average Ugboba indigene is strongly and unflaggingly attached to the cause of his community with patriotic determination. This explains the determination with which they broke away from the geographical definition of Obomkpa, the host community. One failing or deficiency though is the natural statistic that demographically defines the people as small compared to Obomkpa. Nevertheless, what is lost to the insufficiency appears to be the gain in patriotic fighting spirit. In this way, Ugboba is one of Anioma's communities with a history of long resistance always coming together to communally engage in protests over the cause of their settlements as seen against the British, Obomkpa community, and indigenous Nigerian government over the call to align them to Obomkpa.

Although not much is known of the detailed history of the origin of the people because of the dearth of documented sources, the oral history of Obomkpa and Ugboba claims Edo origin. Ugboba is a 15th-century community now headed by HRM Obi Ezedimbu Nkebakwu III, the traditional ruler of Ugboba.   

Past and Present Traditional Rulers of Ugboba

·       Obi Adogie 1436-1480

·       Obi Agwi 1481-1540

·       Obi Ogie 1540-1603

·       Obi Oloi 1604-1680

·       Obi Omezi 1681-1760

·       Obi Uwagbai 1760-1840

·       Obi Ofunete 1840-1900

·       Obi Nkebakwu 1 1900-1940

·       Regency Council 1940-1979 (Signed, Colonial Agreement on Land. Reigned during the visit of the Colonial Masters to Ugboba)

·       Obi Okeibunor Justin Nkebakwu 11 1979-1993

·       Regency Council 1993-2016

·       HRM Obi Ezedimbu Nkebakwu 111 2016 - Present.

Source: https://nigerdeltapeople.com/ugboba-kingdom/

COMMUNAL CHALLENGE: THE CLAIM AND COUNTER-CLAIM

The Obomkpa-Ugboba controversy of existence is unarguably one of the most contentious situations in Anioma's history. A visit to the area will almost persuade the visitor to believe that both settlements are one indivisible community especially as the visitor may find it difficult to understand where one of the communities ended and the other started. To unfamiliar visitors, it is a matter of migratory settlements with homogenous historical claims of Benin, two settlements lying together, side by side since the 15th century, with homogenous linguistics, culture and tradition, and shared political arrangements in kingship but they are two distinct communities. The imaginations of the visitors cannot be faulted after all, it is a body of people living in the same particular area with shared community possessions and agreements as goals but they are two communities as they stand today.

The Obomkpa traditional leaders have since history maintained that Ugboba had always been part of the Obomkpa settlement since history and as a matter of fact, one of the quarters that make up the Obomkpa community, an argument that does not go down well with Ugboba. The Ugboba, on the other hand, with tenacious unwillingness to submit to any such assertion, sustained their argument of separateness from Anagba's Obomkpa until it became a matter of intervention by the Nigerian judiciary after both communities became unable to settle the differences on their own.     

In 2016, the Okowa-led administration recognized a traditional ruler for Ugboba but Obomkpa was never silent about it. She kicked against it vehemently. The Obomkpa traditional leadership held that the Delta State Government did not take a deep consideration of the historical facts of the people of the area nor did they consult with Obomkpa before going ahead to grant recognition to the Ugboba monarchy, rigorously sustaining the claim of the settlement to be one of the quarters of Obomkpa. However, the Obomkpa umbrage could not soften the stance of the Delta State Government that pursued and completed the assignment of Ugboba traditional headship, handing the present traditional ruler a staff of staff.  

A piece of information contained in reformeronline.com, reported Chief Stephen Chima, the Onu Obi of Obomkpa as saying:

“We have been having these issues for over seventy years and have maintained peace all along. We expected that government will seek our view in this matter. Can you snap the finger without the thumb? Government did not consult us before reaching this decision and we are worried that our ancestors will turn in their graves to learn about this unfortunate decision in a democratic setting. Every community has its own history and it appears that some people are bent on rewriting the history of Obomkpa, we will watch and see how far they will go.

For the people of Obomkpa, the land which Ugboba had been claiming belonged to Obomkpa and the installation of another king in that area amounted to two kings in one community.

“Where in Nigeria have you heard that there is a kingdom within another kingdom, or is the state government trying to forcibly redraw our map? He queried. We are certain that some people cleverly withheld critical information from the government and when all the facts are brought to the open as it ought to be people will be better informed," he was further quoted as inquiring.

Not even the appeal to the Delta State Government by Chief Pascal Mobosi, the Uwolo of Obomkpa not to elevate the Ugboba settlement on the ground that both settlements were one could save the day as Ugboba was eventually re-aligned with their cherished Odiani, the Yoruba-speaking clan in Anioma.  Ultimately, the Ugboba had exhibited a preference for Odiani over Ezechime and the people's course of identity had changed, transferring the community from an Ezechime Clan to Olukunmi Clan.

His Excellency, Dr. Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, the then Governor of Delta State may have in his official responsibilities acted on the conviction of the content of the file available to the State Government at the time in which the Regency Council had already been approved for the Ugboba Kingdom almost two decades before his administration was birthed. Moreover, the Government had parted with funds to cater for the remuneration of the Regency Council in recognition of the same, a situation which by extension was the recognition of the monarch.        

For the people of Ugboba, the claim held by them was entirely different. The people consider themselves members of the Odiani Clan and more importantly, a settlement distinct and independent of Obomkpa within the pre-colonial period. There is also the claim that upon the arrival of the British to the present location and consequent relationship with the Enuani, an Anioma sub-group, the Ugboba played sovereign roles in their national affairs.

One source published in nigerdeltapeople.com did not mince words when it reported:

"Ugboba town is an autonomous community in the present day Aniocha North Local Government Area, founded earlier in the 15th century by migrants from Benin Kingdom, during the reign of Oba Ewuare the Great. With the advent of colonialism, Ugboba was one of the communities, visited by the British. In the agreement prepared by the colonial government of Nigeria on the 22nd day of June 1931, the communities of Ewohimi, and Ohordua in Ishan Division and Ubulubu, Ukwu-nzu, Ugboba, in Odiani clan of Asaba Division, on the forest reserve at Ewohimi in the Ishan and Asaba Divisions of the Benin Province, the Obi of Obomkpa who out of greed, forced himself to join the Odiani Clan, later saw that Obomkpa was a stranger in Odiani Clan, and went back to Ezechima Clan."

Although the above claim of Obi of Obomkpa joining the Odiani Clan out of greed, discovering Obomkpa to be a stranger and later returning to the Ezechime Clan is unsubstantiated in the history of Enuani communities, the author emphasized the visit of the British on June 22, 1931. Readers are further told, here that the Obi of Ugboba had the opportunity to sign an agreement with the British. However, the exact definition of the agreement is what was left unveiled. Signing any agreement at this time meant that the Ugboba people enjoyed sovereignty upon the arrival of the early British missionaries to the Anioma area. The Ugboba settlement was well organized with established authority headed by an Obi who aided by his Council, administered the affairs of settlement outside external interference.

On arrival and on setting up of administrative structures in this part of the country, the British colonial government categorized the Ugboba settlement as autonomous under the newly established Odiani Clan. In furtherance, the indigenous Western Government retained Ugboba under the Odiani Clan.

The writer detailed it as reproduced below: 

"The colonial intelligence report of 1936-1937, grouped Ugboba as an autonomous community in Odiani Clan, with three quarters namely; Ogbeobi, Umuaregbeze, and Akpoma, each, headed by their Diokpa. This was again reinforced by the Western Region of Nigeria Local Government Law of 1952. In 1955, the Western Region of Nigeria published a Local Government Law of 1952 and titled same; “Instrument, Establishing the Odiani Local Government Council” in which the Obi of Ugboba was one of the traditional members, as a ruler of one of the autonomous communities of the clan."

The Ugboba people also accuse Obomkpa of inability to exist on their own without making Ugboba a part of their territory, suggesting that the people of the community had in 1972 pressured the Government over the possibility of merging Obomkpa and Ugboba as one community but the Ugboba people greeted the idea with a protest that nearly halted it. However, conducting the inquiry was not favorable to Obomkpa. The writer put it this way:

Protests from Ugboba people, made it inevitable for the Military Government to establish a Commission of Enquiry to look into the possibility or otherwise of a merger. Gbebgaje Commission of Enquiry which was established, got memoranda from all stake holders (sic) in Aniocha North and South Local Governments. When Obomkpa saw that they had failed, they went to halt the release of the result of the enquiry. Ugboba continued to protest the non-release of the commission’s enquiry until 1979, when the military authorized its release. Some of the recommendations which the government approved are as follows:

1. That two communities cannot be merged.
2. That Prince Okeibunor Justin Nkebakwu II should be crowned as the 9th Obi of Ugboba. Staff of office was given to HRM Obi Okeibunor Justin Nkebakwu II based on government approval. This coronation marked the 39years of Regency Council for Ugboba, headed by Prince Kwufordu Azike, who was approved and remunerated by the government.

This author, Emeka Esogbue understands that on the 19th of March 1998, the Delta State Government released a gazette which confirmed the appointment of the Ugboba Regency Council and the Council officially took effect from April 1997. The said Regency Council which lasted until 2016 was remunerated by the Delta State Government. After his education in Nigeria and England, the Regency introduced the Prince to the Aniocha Traditional Rulers' Committee who screened him and recommended him to the Delta State Government for the Staff of Office.

In 2016, he was subsequently installed as the Obi of Ugboba, returning Ugboba to the Odiani Clan as an autonomous community.   

CONCLUSION

From what played out between Obomkpa and Ugboba, it is evident that self-autonomy within a nation is a choice and that identity is dynamic, unlike the imposing arguments of origin, language, and culture. The identity of a people can change and adapt and even change constantly. In this case, Ugboba has re-aligned with the Odiani Clan from the Ezechime Clan. Again, both parties to the dispute, Obomkpa and Ugboba should be commended for their peaceful conduct in the face of the contention while all the actors of the event, the Obomkpa, Ugboba, and the Delta State Government, on the other hand, should also be commended for seeing to the peaceful end of the imbroglio. Ultimately, the lesson inherent in the episode is that people are who they say they are. They determine who they are against any forceful claim that may leave them an appendage to the geopolitical configuration of the state they have been forcefully attached to in addition to the absence of peace.