The crisis rocking Warri kingdom took a new twist weekend as the Ologbotsere, Chief Ayirimi Emami, declared he is next to the Olu of Warri and has approached a Warri High Court.
The Ologbotsere explained he is seeking the interpretation of the controversial 1979 edict in court to attain his rightful place in the traditional administration of the kingdom.
The process to install a new Olu for Warri kingdom following the passage of the 20th Olu, Ogiame Ikenwoli, has been characterised with troubles, beginning with purported suspension of the Ologbotsere as chairman, Olu Advisory Council and Traditional Council of Chiefs by the Ginuwa I Ruling House.
The said council’s under the leadership of the Iyatsere, Chief Johnson Amatserunleghe, in April unveiled Prince Utieyinoritsetsola Emiko, son to Ogiame Atuwaste II and 19th Olu of Warri, as Omoba, Olu-designate.
But addressing newsmen during a ceremony to brief the people of Itsekiri on his position on the crisis on Saturday, Emami explained that his decision to go to court is to ensure that Iwere customs and traditions are preserved.
He emphasised that issues surrounding the Olu stool is a unifying factor for Itsekiris.
“We know that there have been a lot of turbulence in Itsekiri land, so today, I decided that all sons and daughters of Itsekiriland should come for adequate prayers for our people.
“I equally use this medium to alert them that I have taken some steps for the wrongdoing and undoing of the Ologbotsere of Warri kingdom. It is very straight, after the Olu, it is the Ologbotsere. But I have not been talking.
“I have moved to court for the court to interprete the edict.
My position is to uphold whatever law Itsekiri has. You cannot stand in my presence and want to destroy the custom and tradition of Itsekiri.
“I don’t want to go into fighting, I don’t want to take laws into my hands. Itsekiris are known for peace. The only thing I can do is follow law and order. I have to do the needful. I am not the creator of the edict, neither was my father.
“A lot of people are ignorant. Our kingdom has been in existence before 1979 and if they say it (edict) came into being in 1979, it was only amended in 1979.
“So when they get to court, we would know whether it came into being or it is a piece of paper, the way some of them claim.”
The Ologbotsere called for calm across Iwereland, stressing: “We will do the needful. And within a short time we will announce what I am going to do by the power vested on me by the edict”.
While addressing hundreds of Itsekiris present at the ceremony, he stated he did nothing “bad” like as reported in the streets.
Expressing gratitude to the people, he disclosed despite protests against his Ologbotsere candidature in 2017, the late Ogiame Ikenwoli saw his commitment to the kingdom and gave him the title.
He added: “Whatever Itsekiri decides is where I stand. People should not go and lie against the Ologbotsere. Nobody will take Itsekiri backward. We will follow the way it is done.
“If there is no Olu, I am next. I am the next to speak. Some persons want to rewrite history. I want to go to court to ask if Iyatsere can be next. I also want to ask if the Princes can sack a chief”.
A writ of summons with suit number W/128/2021 dated July 8, 2021, has Chief Emami as claimant while Chief Akoma Dudu Dimeyin (Olori-Ebi of Ginuwas Ruling House), Prince Emmanuel Okotie-Eboh (Olori-Ebi of Ginuwa l Ruling House) and Chief Johnson Amatserunleghe (Iyatsere of Warri) as defendants.
The Ologbotsere is seeking “an order of interlocutory injunction restrain ING the defendants either by themselves agents, privies and/or whomsoever from crowning any person as the Olu of Warri kingdom pending the hearing and determination of this suit.
“An order retraining the defendants either by themselves, agents, privies and by whomsoever from using anybody, particularly the 3rd defendant (Iyatsere) or the Uwangue or any other traditional Chief of Warri kingdom to crown any person as the Olu of the Warri Kingdom against the provision of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict of 1979, pending the hearing and determination of this suit”