The Uniqueness of Olomu and of Its King, HRM Richard L. Ogbon, Ohworode R’ Olomu by Professor Peter P

The Uniqueness of Olomu and of Its King, HRM Richard L. Ogbon, Ohworode R’ Olomu By Professor Peter P. Ekeh President, Urhobo Historical Society Personal Preamble Permit me to approach this grand subject-matter with a narrative of my personal encounter with Olomu. In 1947, I was in Standard II of British Colonial educational system at Catholic Central School, Okpara Inland. In a Geography class, there had been some discussion of the towns of Agbon clan. Then information came to us that Agbon, the eponymous ancestor of the Agbon people, was going to be worshipped within a day or two. Indeed, we saw the cow that was to be slaughtered for the sacrifice of the worship being led to the Agbon headquarters at Isiokoro, some two miles away from our School. Two of my friends and I decided to walk to Isiokoro to watch the events of the worship of Agbon. In the company of my two elementary school friends, I did watch the solemn events of the worship of Agbon in 1947. In my recollection, I was very much impressed with the seriousness of the worship. The adults, who carried out the functions of the sacrifice, and the elders from all Agbon towns, who were the presiding authorities, approached their work with intensity. The prayers for the welfare of Agbon people were remarkable. By far, however, what stood out to me in my vivid recollection were two related pronouncements. The first extraordinary announcement, for the mind of a school age boy anyway, was that the 1 head of the sacrificial cow would be sent to Isoko. The second announcement was that the leg of the sacrificial cow would be sent to Olomu. There were no explanatory notes as to why these parts of the animal were being sent to Olomu and Isoko. On returning home from Isiokoro, I did tell my father what transpired. I asked my father why the head and leg of the sacrificial cow were being sent to Isoko and Olomu, respectively. His answer was a terse explanation. He told me that they were being so dispatched to Isoko and Olomu because “Agbon people came from there.” I must add here that Isoko was a very distant place for Agbon boys in 1947. As for Olomu, I never heard of that place before 1947. My second encounter with the notion of Olomu occurred seven years later, in 1954. I was in Class III at St. Peter Claver’s College, Aghalokpe. In that year I met a very nice man, a bricklayer, who became a friend of mine. He told me that he was from Okpẹ in Olomu. I was surprised that there was another Okpẹ in Urhoboland other than the large Okpẹ Clan, next to Agbon Clan, both of which border on the Ethiope River. In my adult years, I did become much more familiar with Olomu, especially with respect to my work in Urhobo Historical Society. Let me mention one instance of that familiarity. In 2004, in my preparation for the first Conference of Urhobo Historical Society in Urhoboland, I told my host at Warri, my cousin the late Mrs. Victoria Oti Akpobome, that I planned to visit the Ohworode of Olomu. She screamed with joy, saying: “I must go with you. He is my favorite king.” I did ask why she said so. Mrs. Akpobome replied, “You will see for yourself.” On getting to the King’s Palace at Ogoni in Olomu, we saw the Ohworode presiding over a session with a lot of simple women and men fully engaged. They were all trying to resolve family issues, apparently. At one moment, I heard the King encouraging a woman to learn to forgive those who had obviously offended her. It was a profound lesson for me on the meaning of rulership. Yes, Mrs. Akpobome was right. This was a unique 2 King. As she so quaintly and metaphorically phrased her admiration for the King of Olomu in our native Urhobo, Ona no Ovie ro na bọ vvwie. A Map of Olomu Showing Towns and Roads Original Sketch of Olomu Towns and Villages by HRM Richard L. Ogbon, Ohworode R’ Olomu. Map Made by Professor Francis Odemerho, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois USA. Copyright by Urhobo Historical Society 2010. 3 My Intellectual Encounter with Olomu Such were fragments of my spontaneous encounters with Olomu and its King. To varying degrees, these experiences from my childhood, adolescent, and adult years, stayed with me in my memory bank. They did surge forward into the forefront of my consciousness in 2012 when Urhobo Historical Society decided to celebrate, in Olomu Kingdom, Urhobo history and culture with emphasis on the contributions made by Olomu and its colonial centre-piece of Okpare to Urhobo history and culture. That self-assignment was a major test of our responsibility as interpreters of Urhobo history and culture. Lying before us and the academic community was what we regarded as a false history of the origins of the Urhobo people, which used Olomu as a handle in its misinterpretation of Urhobo migrations. Its source was Benin Palace historiography pioneered by Chief Jacob Egharevba (1934) of Benin and expanded by Reverend J. W. Hubbard (1948), a Church Missionary Society (CMS) advocate of Benin imperial history. According to Egharevba and Hubbard, Urhoboland was first settled by migrants from Benin who crossed dense forests and the River Ethiope, settling in Okpẹ, Agbon and Avwraka. According to Rev. Hubbard, the rest of Urhoboland was peopled by internal migrants from Okpẹ, Agbon, and Avwraka who moved southwards to southern Urhoboland. It is noteworthy that Egharevba’s and Hubbard’s history of Urhobo migrations completely reverses the folk self-history of migrations by Agbon and Okpẹ people of northern Urhobo. Whereas Egharevba and Hubbard pushed the idea that Okpẹ and Agbon people are the ancestors of Olomu and the rest of southern Urhobo, the northern Urhobo people of Agbon and Okpẹ claim Olomu as the land of their ancestors from which they themselves migrated. Whereas Egharevba and Hubbard insisted that the lands of the Urhobo people of Avwraka, Agbon and Okpẹ were the first settled Urhobo lands from which the lands of 4 southern Urhobo were later developed, Agbon and Okpẹ people concede that primacy to Olomu and the Urhobo lands of southern Urhobo as areas that were first settled before their own lands of northern Urhobo. In preparing for the UHS Conference in Olomu in 2012, our aim was to move beyond the folk history provided by Agbon and Okpẹ people to a clearer study of the context of Urhobo migrations. To begin with elementary statements, we reject the view that Urhoboland was first settled from the north or the associated view that Benin was the source of Urhobo migrations. It is our contention that these false views all emanated from the deceptive conception which ties Urhobo migrations to the Eweka Dynasty of Benin Kings that began in the 13th century and its Benin Empire that began in about 1440 (see Ekeh et al 2012). Before the Eweka dynasty of Kings assumed the reins of power in Benin history, Urhobo people had long settled in their lands (thus see Ekeh 2000). The best estimate by linguists is that Urhobo and Benin languages separated from each other and from a common proto-Edoid language about 2000 years ago (see Armstrong 1964: 12-14; Williamson 1979; Elugbe 1979). We contend that the first migrations of Urhobo people into the Western Niger Delta were tied to the separation of Urhobo and Benin languages from a common proto-Edoid language some 2000 years ago. Permit me to outline the conclusions that we reached on Urhobo history of migrations in our book titled Olomu and Development of Urhoboland & Western Niger Delta. Ancient and Modern Versions. These conclusions are as follows: 1. Urhobo migrations into the Western Niger Delta were through the waterways of River Niger’s tributaries. The first habitation of the Urhobo migrants in the Western Niger Delta was most probably on the western banks of Patani River and Ase River. 2. Internal Urhobo migrations pushed northwards, organized by kinship cohorts who conquered the rainforests of the Western 5 Niger Delta. These bands of kinsmen founded clans of varying sizes, with the largest clans occupying northernmost Urhoboland – particularly Agbon and Okpẹ. 3. Of these clans, Olomu emerged as exceptional because it occupied a unique terrain which was accessible through ample waterways. 4. Four other clans in Urhoboland and Isokoland were launched from the bountiful grounds of Olomu. They are as follows: Agbon in northern Urhobo originated from ancient Agbon Town in Olomu; Okpẹ in northern Urhobo originated from ancient Okpẹ Town in Olomu; Okere on the banks of Warri River originated from Okpare in Olomu; and Olomoro in Isoko originated from the ancient Town of Okpẹ in Olomu. [Note: Okpẹ and Agbon are neighbouring towns of Olomu which have grown into each other in modern times. They are probably among the oldest human habitations in Urhoboland.] 5. Of the four clans that claim Olomu as the land of their ancestors from which they migrated, two trace direct descent from legendary Igboze of Okpẹ Town in Olomu. Both Okpẹ Kingdom in northern Urhobo and Olomoro in Isoko forcefully claim Igboze as their progenitor. [Note: The only other Urhobo subculture that rivals Olomu in the number of clans that are resulting migrant clans is Agbarha. Agbarha-Ame, in modern day Warri, was founded by migrants from the Agbarha homeland. Similarly, Oghara and Idjerhe in northernmost Urhobo originated from Agbarha. It is noteworthy that the names of these resulting clans -- – Agbarha- Ame, Oghara, and Idjerhe -- were taken from Agbarha and its towns in the Agbarha homeland, just as Okpẹ and Agbon in northern Urhobo adopted the names of towns in Olomu from which they migrated.] 6.

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