ERASMUS NWABUOKEI (1930-2021): THE STORY OF THE ONICHA-OLONA PRINCE WHO LOBBIED MONTHLY SALARIES FOR ANIOMA MONARCHS

 ERASMUS NWABUOKEI (1930-2021): THE STORY OF THE ONICHA-OLONA PRINCE WHO LOBBIED MONTHLY SALARIES FOR ANIOMA MONARCHS

- Emeka Esogbue

He played great roles in the salaried life of monarchs of Anioma and others of the Western Region when the Nigerian nation gained independence from the British colonial government.

WHO WAS HE IN HISTORY?

Born Prince Erasmus Nduka Nwabuokei on March 25, 1930, to the Nwabuokei family of Idumu-Ugbe, Ogbeobi in Onicha-Olona and an Ibusa mother, simply identified as Madam Mgbor who was the daughter of Obi Eseagwu who hailed from Umuneze in Umueze Quarters of the town; both communities of Delta State, Nwabuokei worked as a well-known Clerk. 

Ubiquitously, Erasmus grew up to become familiar with both Onicha-Olona and Ibusa communities and uniquely, he never lost his cherished relationship with his Ibusa mother's hometown because, "Ikwu Nne Bu Isi" - Mother's ancestry is Supreme as he lovingly held. For him, it was also a matter of "Ishi Nwanne" philosophy of relationship. 

The benefits of the western form of education, introduced by the missionaries to the Anioma people were mostly the clerks, interpreters, teachers, and others that emerged and Nwabuokei was a clerk who also took a complete interest in the culture of his people, something that distinguished him from his peers.

Furthermore, he was in his life nearly everything that defined politics and culture; historian, chronicler, politician, and personal culture archivist to Onicha-Olona and surrounding Anioma communities especially the Ezechime clan. He was a 'culture help' to enthusiasts and Anioma monarchs who benefitted immensely from his pool of cultural knowledge as far as his contributions were needed.  

His early days under the colonial government were full of interesting and important histories for the people of the Onicha-Olona and Enuani region by extension. For instance, it was in 1937, when he was aged 37 that Okoh Donatus, another important figure in the history of Ezechime played a role in shaping what is known today as the "Ezechime Clan". 

Although the settlements called Ezechime understood their blood relationship in Ezechime patriarchial history, their societal arrangement was still like those of other Nigerian ethnic groups that merely existed as settlements when the British arrived in present Nigeria. Indeed, there was the Court in Onicha-Olona which all the Ezechime communities patronized but it was later relocated.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN IN HISTORY?

In 1937, the 'ancestral definition' of the Ezechime communities changed when the said Okoh Donatus, formerly a Court Clerk in Onicha-Olona Court, moved to form the Ezechime Clan Court in Issele-Uku, an Ezechime community with one of the founders as Oligbo who was the last son of patriarch Ezechinme. It became a change in the collective destiny of Umu Ezechime since the Ezechime Court had been moved from the community. 

Okoh had created a clan that re-united the Ezechime outside Onicha-Olona and all the communities including Onicha-Olona re-channeled their patronage to the Court and it shaped the Ezechime history of ancestry. It is based on the location of this Court that Issele-Uku is held as "head of Ezechime Clan", the community hosted the headquarters of the newly created Ezechime Clan. With this development, clans had started to emerge among the people of Enuani. 

In the 1960s, another milestone was recorded when Erasmus Nwabuokei, the then Personal Secretary to Obi Nwachi Odor, the Obi of Onicha-Olona, took the initiative to lobby the then Government of the Western Region through a letter he wrote, with Chief Dennis Osadebay also copied. 

In the letter, he suggested that the Government assign monarchs with councillorship status additionally, so that they could be paid salaries as the white men did for their loyalists who they also appointed Warrant Chiefs. Eventually, Anioma and other monarchs started to earn salaries though the councilorship position was not considered. A copy of this letter can still be found in his archive. 

Interestingly, the Enuani people are in similar advocacy for Aniocha and Oshimili Council Chairpersons to graciously pay the Omus within their localities monthly salaries. The Omus once crowned, are not allowed to engage in businesses and other forms of work. Yet, they must survive. The Council Chairpersons will do well to accede to the will of the people as did the Regional Government of the Western Region. If the colonial government did not know the Omuship well enough and the government of the Western Region considered Omuship, the government at the grassroots should correct the impression.

Prince Erasmus Nduka Nwabuokei died on February 2nd, 2021 in his Onicha-Olona hometown and was buried on June 5th, 2021. Remarkably, the Nwabuokei family was not oblivious of his Ibusa maternal link. The Nwabuokei, on the day of his burial, visited his Ibusa family in Umueze and also his grandmother in Odanta of Umuodafe in the same Ibusa with the remains of the late Action Group politician. He was thereafter returned to his Onicha-Olona home where his remains were interred in a waiting memorial tomb. 

Shortly after, on July 4, 2021, the Nwabuokei was in his Ibusa maternal home again after the burial and it was on this occasion that a cow was handed his Umuneze maternal family.

Emeka Esogbue is the 2016 Recipient of Patriot Award for Literatures and Research on Anioma, Anioma USA Inc., Georgia Chapter