Agadagba-elect: I’m Not Responsible For Egbema Kingship Tussle, Says Asekutu

The Warri North Local Government Council chairman, Hon. Smart Yomi Asekutu, has dismissed claims that he was instrumental to the ongoing process of installation of Agadagba of Egbema kingdom.

Asekutu spoke following allegations making the round by members of a social organization, the Egbema Leaders of Thought, ELOT, claiming the council boss was responsible for the brewing kingship tussle.

Members of the Egbema Leaders of Thought, in a statement signed by Elder Edmund Tieno and E.A. Mawari, chairman and secretary of the group respectively, had accused the Warri North Local Government Council chairman of bias and encouraging the installation of a king through the back door.

They claimed that the Council boss also made a false report to the DSS that the Agadagba-elect was kidnapped.

In a statement titled: ‘Installation of the Agadagba of Egbema Kingdom: A Call for Restraint’, the group accused the Council boss of imposing the Agadagba-elect on the people, adding that Barr. Napoleon Egin has not been elected or chosen as Agadagba-elect as due process, according to the group, for selection and installation was not followed.

But speaking on phone in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, Hon. Asekutu stated that the allegation of the ELOT was quite laughable, adding that as the chairman of the Local Government Council, he has been trying everything possible to maintain peace and orderliness during and after the installation of the new king for the Egbema people.

According to the Council boss, the duty of selecting and installation of a new monarch for the Egbema kingdom is the sole responsibility of the Traditional Council of Chiefs, pointing out that he was not one of the members of them and therefore could not have influenced nor imposed anyone Agadagba on the people.

He expressed confidence in the capacity of the Traditional Council of Chiefs to exploit their traditional endowment to select and install a new king for the Egbema people, adding that their choice of Barr. Napoleon S. Egin as the Agadagba-elect of the kingdom passed through due traditional process and therefore it remains the choice of the people.

Asekutu explained the painstaking process which the Traditional Council of Chiefs and the people of Egbema kingdom went through in selecting and installing the Agadagba-elect, noting that the people will not allow a few disgruntled persons under the name of Egbema Leaders of Thought which, according to him, is just a social organization who has been enjoying the respect of the people interfering in the traditional institution process of emergence of a new king.

The Local Government Council chairman however said that the people have already elected their royal father, warning that those who have interest in the process of the installation of the new Agadagba for the kingdom must tread carefully and allow peace in the kingdom.

“This position of the Egbema Leaders of Thought, ELOT, accusing me of imposing someone on the people, is quite laughable. As the chairman of the Local Government Area which this traditional stool is part of, I have been trying everything possible to maintain peace and to ensure that the installation of the new king is conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.

“It is instructive to note that even the ELOT came to me to persuade me to stop the Traditional Council of Chiefs from organizing a meeting, but I told them that I cannot stop them because I don’t have such mandate because it is the duty of the Traditional Council of Chiefs to start and finish the process of installing a new king. And today, we have been able to have this understanding in the kingdom that it is the turn of Ogbudugbudu community to produce the next king.

“First of all, the Traditional Council of Chiefs has been able to put in place a Regency Council headed by Chief Johnbull Adaun. This is to show that the Traditional Council of Chiefs knows what to do at all particular times. And so, they have series of meetings and agreed that it is the turn of Ogbudugbudu to produce the next king and they asked the Ogbudugbudu ruling house should give them a candidate. But the Ogbudugbudu people could not produce a single name, rather, at the end of the day they brought a list containing six names.

“To start with, the Traditional Council of Chiefs made an announcement that it was the turn of the Ogbudugbudu to produce the next king. But it was so disheartening that the members of ELOT in connivance with the chairman of the Regency Council to stall the process. But because the Traditional Council of Chiefs are competent and they know what they are doing, they met and concluded that they will move on and continue with the process. And at the end of the day, the Ogbudugbudu people brought six names.

“They brought three names first in response to the first announcement made by the Traditional Council of Chiefs. It would also be recalled that when the ELOT and the Regency Council’s scheming could not see the light of the day, they came around to ask the Traditional Council of Chiefs to make a second announcement so that they could contribute their input. For the purpose of peace, the Traditional Council of Chiefs allowed them.

“The announcement was made in a meeting attended by every Egbema indigenes. At the end of the day, they came up with another three names. From our findings, the Amokoso did not want to append his signature on the second list. But we needed peace. It is only one person that could be crowned a king. So, we allowed the additional three names to come in. I was in that meeting. And we asked the Ogbudugbudu if there was another list coming in, and they said no.

“We also made them understand that they ought to give the Traditional Council of Chiefs one name but they brought six names. We now asked them if the Traditional Council of Chiefs worked with the six names and at the end come up with one, if they would accept such name, and they said yes. And the two lists were passed to the Traditional Council of Chiefs.

“And I never allowed any of the aspirants to visit me because I did not want to be seen as supporting any of them. The only man who attempted to meet me among the six candidates was one Chief Eddy Abonije who approached me through a proxy. And when he came to meet me in my house along with some chiefs, I told him that I’m not in any way in the position to dictate who should be the king or who should not be king in that list and that the whole process is with the Traditional Council of Chiefs. At the end, they left.

“So, I did not impose anybody on the people. But as we have it, due process was followed until we got six names from the Ogbudugbudu people. And the name of the Agadagba-elect we are talking about today who has been announced was part of that six names brought by the Ogbudugbudu people.

“In my mind, I know that the Traditional Council of Chiefs has a way of determining who becomes the king and I believe they had taken their time and did a good job. So, I’m not in any way interested in who becomes the king and I would not be in any way interested in influencing nor imposing anybody as king over the people.

“We all agreed in that meeting that anybody who the Traditional Council of Chiefs will pick will be in the interest of all Egbema people. And so, the person who was picked by the Traditional Council of Chiefs as agreed by everybody in that Egbema meeting is now the king-elect.

“And that is the position I also stand for. We have gotten a king-elect and I will not renege, I will not shift ground. We are going to work with this name as the king of Egbema. That is my position. We cannot bow to some pressure which we are aware is coming from external forces.

“The entire Egbema people assembled for a whole day to start the process and come out with one name out of the six names brought by the Ogbudugbudu people. We are not having a king for a handful of persons who are pushing their own interest from external forces. We are having a king for the entire Egbema people. And the people with the right and authority to choose the king have done so”, Asekutu said.

He challenged those accusing him of imposing the Agadagba-elect on the people to come out with proof, adding that ELOT should not attempt to hijack the traditional role of the Traditional Council of Chiefs to select and install a new king for the kingdom which, according to him, they have done so diligently.

“Anybody who is claiming that I influenced or imposed the Agadagba-elect on the people should come forward with his proof on the table. Even the ELOT that is alleging that I imposed the king on the people is a social group. They are not the Traditional Council of Chiefs whose traditional duty is to install a king. ELOT is not in any way reflected in the process of installation of Egbema monarch. If the people have respect for the members of ELOT, such does not bequeath on them the traditional role of trying to hijack the process of installing a monarch because they don’t have the right to do so. They should not think they are above the law because of the respect people are giving to them.

“I’m using this medium to advice everybody who is showing interest in this traditional stool to tread carefully and allow peace to reign in the kingdom. The people have chosen their king and everybody should cooperate with the Traditional Council of Chiefs as they drive the process installing the new king.

“As far as we are concerned what the Traditional Council of Chiefs have come up with is acceptable to the government and we are working with their decision”, he said.

Asekutu also recalled the several meetings he held with the various Stakeholders in Egbema kingdom geared towards a peaceful process of selection and installation of a new king, adding that “as the Chief Security Officer of the Council, all I’m interested in is peace and orderliness”.

Reacting the allegation of imposition and bias levelled against the Local Government chairman, the chairman of the Egbema Traditional Council of Chiefs, Chief David Bubor JP said that the LG Council boss has no traditional role to play in the selection and installation process of the Egbema king, and that in the prevailing circumstance, he has neither interfered nor in any way, influence who becomes the next Agadagba of the kingdom.

According to Chief Bubor, the Local Government Council Chairman became involved when the Agadagba-elect was kidnapped in his house at Ogbudugbudu while undergoing the traditional rites.

Hon. Asekutu, the chairman of the Traditional Council of Chiefs said, intervened with security agents from Koko, to find a way to rescue the Agadagba-elect from the den of the kidnappers.

“Now the (LG Council) chairman did not know nor did anything about this traditional issues. It was when the Agadagba-elect was kidnapped by this disgruntled group for two days that the LG Council chairman intervened to seek for his peaceful release.

“The chairman in the process preached peace for the people, pleading with the abductors to release the Agadagba-elect as we all are brothers.

“The Local Government chairman is not in support of anybody. He is only concerned about peace in the kingdom and that is what he did”, Chief Bubor said.

He also discountenaced the alleged suspension of himself and the Secretary of the Traditional Council of Chiefs by the aggrieved group, saying that they have no such power as title and that of his secretary were conferred in them by former Agadagba of the kingdom.

“They don’t have the right, they are not qualified. Those people can’t even call a clan meeting. The kingdom meeting is always called by the Amokoso of Egbema kingdom supported by me. So, what they are doing is illegal”, he said.

It would be recalled that the Traditional Council of Chiefs had, a day earlier (22/10/22) suspended four chiefs namely Andrew Gorroh, Johnson Sule Akpasibewei, Pastor Tlikewei and Johnbull Adaun for “summoning elders and chiefs (kingmakers) some who are about 80 years and above, to appear before them for performing their traditional role conferred on us by our forefathers.”

Our correspondent gathered that these four suspended chiefs which included the chairman of the Regency Council, Chief Johnbull Adaun, allegedly connived with the Leaders of Thought to hold the meeting of the 23/10/22 where they in turn, allegedly suspended 8 chiefs including the chairman and secretary of the Traditional Council of Chiefs.