By OBARO ELELEWOR
An appeal has gone to all the sons and daughters of Ogboli Community in Issele – Uku Kingdom in Delta State to imbibe the spirit of love , peace , unity and solidarity, so as to move the community forward and enhance its development and to checkmate any form of unfairness and injustice in the kingdom.
The Onishe of Issele Uku and Okpalabuisi of Ogboli Community, Diokpa Okonkwo Nduka Nwajei , and the Principal Members of the Community , made this plea at the just concluded 2022 Annual General Conference held at the Village Square to mark the yuletide season.
The conference , being the first of its kind , was attended by the sons and daughters of Ogboli community in Issele Uku and Ogboli delegates from Ibusa , Akwukwu – Igbo , Atuma- Igah, lllah , Igwashi – Uku and Obior and Nri Nshi , being from where the ancestors and founders of the aforementioned Ogboli communities originated or migrated .
The conference was aimed at strengthening the unity of the communities in Issele Uku kingdom and also to build solidarity with the Ogboli brethren in other Anioma communities and Nri (Nshi) in the spirit of brotherhood.
A communique issued at the end of the conference resolved , inter alia , a re- assertion of the rights and privileges of the Onishe and his subjects.
According to the communique , the rights and privileges of the Onishe and Ogboli people are not negotiable as they bordered on the very existence of the people in Issele Uku kingdom.
These rights and privileges are sacrosanct to the Ogboli people.
Some of these maintained that the Onishe and his subjects do not take off their caps before the Obi or when greeting him ,
” The Onishe and his subjects do not kneel down for the Obi or before the Obi ,
” The Onishe and his people do not engage in menial or manual labour in the Obi’s palace ,
” And the Onishe and his subjects do not hold the kola nut for the Obi “.
Furthermore , the communique stated and reaffirmed that: ” the Onishe is not a title that is bestowed but rather the holder of the office emerges by divine Providence,
” Whoever is the oldest Okpala of Ogboli community extraction becomes the Okpalabuisi of the Community and then Onishe of lssele Uku,
” The Onishe does not and is not one of the chiefs that swears to any oath or goes through the ritual of ‘ Ibe ejije Ukwu ” .
The communique declared as unacceptable any attempt which seeks to shift this ancient landmark custom and tradition in the name of modernism and quest to satisfy some selfish ends , describing such ends as ‘sinister , preconceived and detrimental ‘ to the Onishe and the Ogboli people.
