Worried by the perceived neglect of the Urhobo Nation by the Goodluck Jonathan led administration, and the dwindling political fortune, the Urhobo youths have been called upon by Comrade Rex Anighoro, an Urhobo youth leader, to take their destiny in their hands and join forces together to wrestle back the lost glory of the Urhobo Nation.

This is coming on the heel of the call on the President by Chief (Maj-Gen.) Patrick Aziza (Rtd.), President General of the Urhobo Progress Union to appoint an Urhobo son/daughter into the federal executive. council in order to correct the perceived neglect.

According to him, “The Urhobo nation has become a laughing stock, greatly derided by friends and enemies, the urhobo people strong, intelligent and creative but lacking in common purpose. The urhobo nation which is bigger than over 70 independent nations has lost her leadership role in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian enterprise and African project.”

Anighoro lamented that with the Urhobo greats fast declining with no adequate and ready replacement; it is high time that the youths rose to the occasion by staking a claim to reclaiming its lost glory.

In his words, “ Today, as the first generation of Urhobo greats, like the Oshues;  Mowoes, Salubis, Okumagbas, Dafinone, Ovie whiskeys, Akpores,  Ibrus, Brumes, and the rank and file gets more depleted, I fear if there are adequate replacements.” 

Some Crucial Urhobo Losses
According to Obiomah, below are some of the losses suffered by the Urhobo in Warri.
a) The creation of the Midwest Region from Western Region was dear to Urhobos who put their body and soul into the effort to have it created. Itsekiris opposed it. See "The Guardian", Sunday supplement 23rd August, 1987, which graphically compares Itsekiri conduct in 1963 and 1987. Although Midwest Region was created, Delta State was not created in 1976, 1987 and in 1989. In 1987, page 6 of the Guardian of Friday, September 18th, 1987 may have contributed to failure, a case of disunity among Urhobos. But the Itsekiri did behave true to pattern, attacking Urhobo support for the creation of the state for fear as they claimed of Urhobo domination.

b) Over the years only Itsekiris have held political appointments at state and Federal Government level to represent Warri. In the result indigenous Urhobos of Warri have been sort of flotsam and jetsam or gypsies who do not belong. And that is the same image shared by other Urhobos.
c) The first governor of the Midwest Region was an Urhoboman but he had to step down for Chief Dennis Osadebey to be Premier while an Itsekiri became Attorney General and Minister of Justice. Also an Urhoboman was speaker of the Midwest House of Assembly but an Itsekiri man was more or less awarded the position of Permanent Secretary as well as the Olu of Warri becoming the permanent Vice-Chairman of the State Council of Chiefs. Did Urhobos who worked hard for the creation of the Midwest Region benefit any more than the ltsekiris? All in all Urhobos lost.

Unnecessary Competition among the Urhobos
According to Edafe 2012,   Urhobo had several opportunities to control power and be feared in the state and even beyond. It had the opportunity to teach Gov Uduaghan a bitter political lesson and send fears across the spine of every politician and political pundit and at once end the cries of marginalization. It had a candidate in the person of Chief Great Ogboru that was generally accepted across the state but for the treachery and personal gain over Urhobo collective gain, our Urhobo politicians wasted those opportunities. Some of them had judged that instead of Ogboru to be in power and they would not likely walk the corridor of power, it is better Uduaghan continues whether good or bad. This is the bedeviling wickedness of the Urhobo man. If those, Urhobo politicians fought for, had our advantage, Urhobo would be second class citizens for lifetime. If you doubted me, then go to Benue State and ask about the experience of the Idoma in the hands of the Tiv. No political class will fear a greed devastated majority like Urhobo. Except the mindset and political approach is changed, Urhobo will continue to grope behind minorities in the new order – especially as Magege’s model recognized that election could be won without her so-called majority vote.

Urhobo politicians cannot stake anything for Urhobo collective good. If they were good politicians that actually want Urhobo to control political power in the state, what they could have done prior to the last election, was to form a secret alliance with Ogboru at the wee hours to the elections to sabotage the rigging plot of Uduaghan in favour of Urhobo. By that, Uduaghan would have been given a shocker of his life as Gov Ikedi Ohakim of Imo. When Deltans and indeed the PDP would have seen that kind of unanimous politicking and unfaltering patriotism on the part of the Urhobo politicians, Urhobo would been feared in subsequent elections and seen to be prepared to control political power in the state. Thereafter, many entreaties both from the Federal Government and PDP would have come her way unsolicited for. Unfortunately, Urhobo does not have such caliber of politicians with selfless and patriotic spirits to take such pro-people and pro-democracy bold steps. They feared being in the opposition. For them, opposition is the road to irrelevance and poverty. They cannot understand that opposition makes democracy the best form of government. Lagos State, since 1999 is in the opposition. Is there any PDP state that is feared or can rank shoulder with Lagos? Opposition makes Bola Tinubu thick, a hero and political demagogue. Our politicians obviously need political upgrade.

Until Urhobo makes democracy to work and make her majority vote to decide election winners in the state, we are not good politicians but clanging cymbal. In every democracy, there are population density areas known to determine election winners. In the U.S areas like New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Florida, Ohio, etc. are feared and honored for their high vote potentials. Abusively, in our own Urhobo scenario, election is anyhow. One of their captains said, “It is better to be a king in hell than to be a slave in heaven”. This, alternatively put, meant it is better to roam around in Uduaghan’s government than stay outside Government under Ogboru. Paradoxically, this is the operational political philosophy of those who rated themselves as Urhobo political leaders. What greatness can Urhobo achieve when politicians with these kinds of debilities, awful and damaging mindset are on the saddle? But only the fool cares less about life in hell. The biblical rich fool trivialized and underestimated the calamity in hell until he landed in hell. He never wished that his living brothers should join him in hell. Though he was a first class king in hell yet wanted Lazarus, a slave in heaven to help with a finger dip quantity of water to quench his taste. That is the nature of life in hell. Urhobo politicians, I’m sure are not enjoying their kingship in hell either. Hell is the same everywhere. Their lamentations and many cries of marginalization abound in the newspapers. They lament daily about how President Jonathan and Gov Uduaghan marginalized them incurably. They have no solution to these marginalizations. I know some of them that were worshipped as commissioner of commissioners, political Jesus, governor behind the Governor that are now ordinary advisers to Gov Uduaghan, a man they once despised among the ranks as a barren Nazareth. Isn’t that hellish? But I trust Uduaghan. I don’t know how many times in a month he consults them for advice on state matters. Urhobo politicians have a resemblance of power but are floaters and have no power of their own to decide on anything good may be only to rig election in Urhobo land.

Urhobo politicians don’t have back-men or stabilization force. Once they fall, they fall flat to the ground. They don’t appreciate even helpful criticism and their tactics have been to recruit fuddy-duddies as loyalists that they could hush down at the slightest provocation. Their team lacks connection, diplomacy and intelligence to stand in the days of calamity. They believe they will forever be up. Every true leader looks beyond the gains of office to get the best men. Sadly, in Urhobo land, politicians believe the best men are not loyal and would overshadow them in due time or ask question when there is no idea, initiative or programme that requires loyalty. Urhobo has not got its politics right. Magege wants her to concur to the PDP. In a recent interview he said, “Delta is a mono-political party state. No other party would win election in Delta State”. This is gross misdemeanor mixed with political stupidity.  There is no democracy that is mono-political party except in Magege’s contraption. No majority can become powerful by been apologetic to a political party as Magege wanted. The fear of a nation is the fear of its strength in warfare. Urhobo can indeed control political power in the state but not by Magege’s prescription but by positioning itself to allow its advantageous majority vote to decide election winners – I mean by allowing patriotism to rise above greed or allowing her vote to be breathtakingly waited upon to speak doom or victory in every election. In situation where Urhobo politicians unsavagely ruined her political fortune in order to confer relevance on minorities, Urhobo will remain marginalized. It behooves on Urhobo to make democracy work in Delta State. A wise majority would do so. Election rigging and result falsification can only make minority a false giant. Delta is waiting on Urhobo to take the lead towards a peoples’ democracy. I do not agree with those who blame Urhobo political woes on our republican nature. Republicanism only allows for independent thought development and judgment, it does not ostracize a sense of group cohesion and pursuit of collective aspiration. I also do not agree with those who think Uduaghan has dwindled Urhobo political fortune. This is shallowness. Urhobo political fortune is not in the hand of Uduaghan to determine. Urhobo political fortune lies with the Urhobo man himself. No one would expect Uduaghan to surrender power in a jiffy. He lives in Nigeria where nobody voluntarily surrenders power especially where the discretion for a second term exists. Like Uduaghan, Gov. Ohakim of the PDP rooted for a second term in Imo but the strong will of a resolute and enlightened political class who knew the essence of government brushed him out to lick his wounds – arrogance and wickedness. Uduaghan was only a strategist who found some garrulous Urhobo politicians as hand tools to achieve his end. Uduaghan did not rig election in Ethiope West, snatch ballot boxes in Sapele nor frustrated voting in Ughelli and other Urhobo LGAs. It was Urhobo politicians who are wise in their own eyes, who gauge themselves as political experts whereas are party bigots playing lily-belly politics of who becomes councilor, LG chairman or Assembly member did. They are Urhobo political leaders in the PDP yet don’t know how people become Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, parastatal Heads, agency Directors and DGs and Presidential aides in Abuja.

Urhobo problem is the greed of our politicians, their selfishness, naivety, narrow mindedness and sense of betrayal for personal gain. There is a serious need for them to moderate their irritating party politics, desperation for power retention and sustenance of narrow selfish interest. It was Chief K. K.Omokri, Vice President, UPU Rivers State who asked the question, “How can members of one political party (PDP) be an Urhobo political congress? Where else have you seen that happen? There is no Igbo political congress but one Ohaneze Ndigbo; No Yoruba consultative forum but one Afenifere and no Hausa political forum but one Arewa. The UPU has to urgently stem the trend. Any meaningful Urhobo political congress ought to be one that is pro-Urhobo with its membership composition cutting across party divides and its leadership duly elected” he said. “Those who profess ethnic interest don’t tie themselves to political parties such that the collapse of their party does not adversely affect their ethnic interest. They constantly read the signs as to where public ovation tilt and align their ethnic interest” Omokri added. Our politicians have proved incapable of drawing a line between partisanship and patriotism. They glibly talk about the Urhobo interest but have a ruinous heart.

Let no one misinterpret me as an ethnic jingoist, though have no apology for that, as anyone could see that even the Northern Governors most of which PDP, are beginning to root for Northern Presidency in 2015. I am a true democrat – one who strongly believes that anyone’s quest to rule over another must be by consent and approval. I have no pact with the imposition of candidates or forceful rule over others. That happens only amongst animals. I have no problem with anybody becoming Governor in Delta State but that desire can only be by the consent of the people and not by imposition.

The issue of making democracy work, good governance and credible elections in Delta State is not one to be left in the hand of power-hungry politicians. If democracy succeeds in the state, Urhobo stands to gain more but if the barbarism and agberoism continues it looses more too. It is time the UPU should wake up and call to order our politicians. Chief Charles Obule made this appeal to the UPU long ago. He said, “The UPU should regulate Urhobo politicians’ reckless use of the Urhobo name” that are visibly used to undo Urhobo.

Our kings have a role to play. Government gifts and staff of office should not tuck them in or blind them to the shenanigans of the Urhobo politicians and ills in our society. They need to lend a strong voice to the call for political morality in the state. Urhobo politicians have derailed; none of us can claim ignorance of that point and somebody has recommended moral excursion for them. They need to see how democracy works elsewhere. At a time where different geopolitical zones are consolidating and angling for power, Magege is calling for a debate with Amori. At least I can agree that we are active and powerful only when it is Urhobo vs Urhobo war. What achievement will Magege’s debate bring to Urhobo? Whose interest is it meant to serve? Magege, should rather challenge Delta North to a debate over 2015. I canvass for a democracy that will secure a future for our children, keep society safe for them and prospers their labours.

The way forward
As observed above, the Urhobos lack replacement for their leaders and this is happening because the Urhobo leaders keep recycling and projecting people old enough to be grand fathers for a position as Chairman Local Government Transition Committee while their counterparts in other Senatorial Districts are projecting relatively young people. 

The future of any nation lies in the youths and if the Urhobo Nation is to come out of her present political comatose, a change in approach is highly recommended.

nelsonegware:
Oshues; Mowoes, Salubis, Okumagbas, Dafinone, Ovie whiskeys, Akpores, Ibrus, Brumes

Is this all you got ?
So what are you worried about !

You have always been dead from time.
The Itsekiris are superior and have always ruled over you !

Is Ibori not Urhobo. . .?
If Urhobo land could not be turned into Disneyworld. . . no hope!

Please, you can't teach bushmen how to use fork and knife when eating 'STARCH AND BANGA'!
Period!

They glibly talk about the Urhobo interest but have a ruinous heart.

They really do! TRIFLING TOO!

Urhobo problem is the greed of our politicians, their selfishness, naivety, narrow mindedness and sense of betrayal for personal gain.

Absolutely correct!

The future of any nation lies in the youths and if the Urhobo Nation is to come out of her present political comatose, a change in approach is highly recommended.

Jesus will come down first! I SAY NO HOPE!!!!! The problem with Nigerians in general!

[b]Urhobo politicians cannot stake anything for Urhobo collective good. If they were good politicians that actually want Urhobo to control political power in the state, what they could have done prior to the last election, was to form a secret alliance with Ogboru at the wee hours to the elections to sabotage the rigging plot of Uduaghan in favour of Urhobo. By that, Uduaghan would have been given a shocker of his life as Gov Ikedi Ohakim of Imo. When Deltans and indeed the PDP would have seen that kind of unanimous politicking and unfaltering patriotism on the part of the Urhobo politicians, Urhobo would been feared in subsequent elections and seen to be prepared to control political power in the state. Thereafter, many entreaties both from the Federal Government and PDP would have come her way unsolicited for. Unfortunately, Urhobo does not have such caliber of politicians with selfless and patriotic spirits to take such pro-people and pro-democracy bold steps. They feared being in the opposition. For them, opposition is the road to irrelevance and poverty. They cannot understand that opposition makes democracy the best form of government. Lagos State, since 1999 is in the opposition. Is there any PDP state that is feared or can rank shoulder with Lagos? Opposition makes Bola Tinubu thick, a hero and political demagogue. Our politicians obviously need political upgrade.
[/b]

Gbam!
INSTEAD THEY SOLD THEIR OWN (IBORI) TO THE BRITISH IN EXILE, HAVING MANAGED TO TRICK HIM OUT OF THE COUNTRY WHERE HE COULD BECOME 'TOUCHABALE'.

A VERY USSSSSSSSSSSSLESS, strange breed indeed! EXTREMELY UNCOUTH AND DEVELOPMANTALLY DELAYED!

Too much drinking!

Kudos! Very nice write-up!