Protest rocked Okpella, in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State following what the community leaders and the elders considered as the imposition and presentation of staff of office to Engr. Lukeman Akemokhue as new Okueokpellagbe Of Okpella.

Recall that the state government, through its Ministry of Local Government, Community and Chieftaincy Affairs, Monday Osaigbovo, while presenting the letter of appointment to him, said that the State Executive Council has approved his appointment as the Okueokpellagbe of Okpella, Etsako East Local Government Area of the state effect from 26 September, 2024.

Obaseki?s decision came almost a year after the entire Okpella traditional council including the Senior Ataru Okpella, Chief Odabor nominated Engineer Mike Sado as the chosen candidate for the position of the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella in line with the traditions of the land.

The declaration of Lukeman Akemokhue sparked protest in the mineral rich Okpella community as they insisted the governor should immediately reconsider his decision to avoid plunging Okpella in communal crisis.

However, respected leaders of the Okpella community, including revered traditional heads, have unequivocally denounced Governor Obaseki?s move, labeling it a blatant desecration of their sacred traditions, asserting that it?s a politically driven decision aims to sow discord within the peaceful community.

?These actions are an affront to our heritage,? declared a prominent community leader, Engineer Abu Abdulganiyu, who led a protest, sounding warning against any attempt by Obaseki to install his preferred candidate for the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella stool.

Speaking during the protest in Okpelle, Abdulganiyu said, ?The traditional stool is not a tool for political bartering or compensation and its sanctity must be respected.

?We have a king and we know who we want. Obaseki can?t impose a king on us when he has few weeks to leave us,? he said.

Abdulganiyu had earlier warned that any attempt to foist a political monarch on the community would be resisted by the people of Okpella.

Meanwhile, the Otaru of Iddo community, a respected custodian of Okpella traditions, High Chief Kasshim Otaru, has strongly denounced Governor Obaseki?s last minute move, stressing that it defies their time-honoured customs. He explained that, according to Okpella traditions, the community, not outsiders like Obaseki, chooses its kings through established procedures.

?Nobody selects a king for us,? the Otaru declared. ?We make our decision within the community, announce it, and then inform the government. Our procedures are clear, and we won?t accept the governor?s decision.?

A former Edo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation and spokesperson of former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, Prince Kassim Afegbua, yesterday in statement accused Obaseki of trying to ?plunge Edo State into communal war? by bypassing traditional selection processes.

According to Afegbua, Obaseki?s plan to appoint Lukeman Akmokhue, he described as an ?e-rat,? as the new Okuokpellagbe contradicts the community?s ancient customs and the Traditional Councils Edict of 1979.

He said: ?In a last minute ditch, Governor Obaseki, the owner of ?Tigers and Lions? is trying to impose Kings on some communities as a farewell package. It is important that he treads carefully to avoid a conflagration.

?Governor Obaseki has not only destroyed our traditional institution, he has also balkanised same. The news we are hearing from government quarters yesterday is that one Lukeman Akmokhue, Obaseki?s e-rat is being propped up to assume the exalted stool of the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella.

?The procedure for the election and not selection of Okuokpellagbe of Okpella is very clear. It is the people?s right to elect someone, using the traditional council and titled chiefs in line with the traditional councils edict of 1979.

?Trying to impose a traditional ruler simply to provoke a people will amount to deliberately creating problems for the Governor-elect of the state. Some of us may not know who becomes the Okuokpellagbe, but we know those who won?t be?.

Okpella community, the third single largest community in Edo has remained without a king since 2019 when its former king, Alhaji AYE Dirisu, passed away.

He said the new traditional ruler for the position which is rotational should emerge from Oteku, a sub clan in Okpella, as the process for selection was put in place with prayers for peace by the Christians and Muslims as nine people were nominated for screening.

Elder Odabo said at the end of the exercise in line with traditional norms, Mike was chosen as the new traditional ruler. A position that was neither political nor academical.

?We have done all that is humanly possible, spiritually humanly possible. The one out of the nine is Engr. Mike. Okpella has spoken, our forefathers have spoken, God himself, the maker of the whole universe has spoken,? Odabor declared. (Saturday Independent)

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