My Close Shave With Death Inside Olu Of Warri’s Palace – Obaghoro’s Olare-Aja

“While I was awaiting a call from the Director of Palace Administration, Chief Maleghemi as to when to come for the meeting with the Olu, I received a phone call from one Blessing Bawo who threatened to bundle me to the Palace if I refused to show up. Wondering why this threat became necessary and terrified by it as I had no clue as to who Blessing Bawo was, I however returned Blessing Bawo’s call and dared him to show his face because I felt convinced that he was just a proxy. Good enough and to my relief, the Director of the Palace Administration phoned me and fixed the time and date for the meeting thus affirming my willingness to honor His Majesty’s summons even as I expressed the concerns about the safety of my delegation because some youths have menacingly been threatening some Elders in my Community. Apropos, the Director urged us to disregard the threats and he affirmed that they were not from the Palace.

“Arriving at the Palace on 27 January, 2022 for the appointment, we conferred with the Director of Palace Administration, Chief Maleghemi who rescheduled the meeting with the Olu for 28 January, 2022 by 3.00pm. While preparing ourselves for the meeting on the 28th, we received a phone call from the Palace asking us to come at 1.00pm. We hurriedly set out to keep the appointment and, on arrival, were ushered to a waiting-room for us to be called in when His Majesty was ready to receive us. To our shock and dismay, one Esimaje Vincent Ebigbeyi (aka Esimaje Vincent Awani) barged into the Director’s Office and with a visible rage chased me and my delegation out of the waiting-room as he violently pulled away the chairs from under us causing some members of my team to fall and sustain bruises and wounds. There is no doubt that the CCTV Cameras must have captured the imbroglio. In order to avoid a more unfortunate scene, we left the Palace to deal with the wounds and bruises on our bodies and to show our respect for our Kingdom’s Palace.

“As we look back on what had been happening over the period, including the fabrication that I, and my community elders, have been dishonoring His Majesty’s invitation when no such message reached us, we are now convinced that a group of our youths were out to discredit the leadership for whatever is their goal. And there is no doubt that Esimaje Vincent Ebigbeyi is their arrowhead. This, in my view, is dangerous for the Palace as the truth will most likely be withheld from His Majesty. It is pertinent to ask: why did Esimaje Vincent Ebigbeyi chase my entourage out of the Palace? Was he afraid that we were going to tell the truth before His Majesty? There must be something underneath that should be unraveled. It is in this regard that we are respectfully requesting that a probe be made into the brouhaha. The recordings of the CCTV Camera will provide evidence for what transpired. We are ready to respond to any summons to the Palace in the interest of the Warri Kingdom and not that of some self indulging youths.

“We want to be clear: we, as Itsekiris, owe our allegiance to the Ogiame! We hereby reiterate this allegiance and look forward to displaying it before His Majesty. He is the revered Head of our Kingdom”, the letter concluded.