By Kenneth Yugbovwre
Majority of Urhobo Patriot are peeved by an article written by an unknown and faceless Chief M. Keme on behalf of an equally nebulous group called Delta scholars.
The said article which was shared on several platforms elicited only revulsion from patriotic Urhobo sons and daughters unfortunate enough to have read the gibberish from the febrile minds of Mr Keme and his motley band of misfits masquerading as scholars.
These deluded persons thought that by garbing themselves with the appellation of “scholars” they could mask their true identities. After reading through the vile article and its malicious attempt to ridicule high ranking urhobo personalities, most especially Chief Joe Omene, the president general of UPU, certainly exposed the odious fact that Delta scholars is a sobriquet adopted by a band of sponsored Ijaw irredentists to forment ethnic strife and rivalry between some cantankerous Ijaws and their peaceful Urhobo neighbours.
Secondly, the indecorous use of unbridled invectives, expletives and very uncouth vocabularies to malign the person and office of Chief Omene is another unscholarly low by this faceless group of Ijaw miscreants.
In addition, the litany of spelling errors and grammatical gaffes also expose the very low intellectual acumen of these mangrove swamp bumkins calling themselves scholars. Ijaw politicians should desist from these childish games of sponsoring paid hirelings to spew very vicious and malicious narratives against people opposed to their inordinate greed for power and devilish plans to plunge Delta state once again into the infamy of another ethno – political strife.
Although, most Urhobos who read the obnoxious article by the said Chief Keme were negatively infracted, but, I was however not surprised by the antics of the so called “Delta scholars” because insolence have become a defining trait of many persons from the Ijaw ethnic nationality who do not know what urbaneness mean having been raised and nurtured in jungle like environment of mangrove swamps and a war like culture before wandering to cities to mix up and interact with well cultured persons of other ethnic nationalities born and brought up in cosmopolitan environments.
Civility, a mark of good parentage is equally aplenty in persons of Ijaw origin who were fortunately raised in the cities and are at peace with both their Urhobo and Itsekiri neighbours.
This caustic but factual response to the insolence and temerity of misguided Ijaws of the likes of Chief M. Keme who have suddenly developed a penchant for attacking urhobo leaders advocating for equity and fairness, is intended to serve as a first salvo of warning to all Ijaw bigots who became politically visible on account of humongous wealth made from oil bunkering and piracy on the seas and who now arrogate to themselves the toga of Ijaw leadership, to the chagrin of educated urbane and peaceful true ijaw leaders who are at peace with all their neighbors.
The vile article by the deplorable Chief M. Keme woefully attempted to cast unprovoked aspersion and opprobrium on notable urhobo sons, most especially on the person and office of chief Joe Omene, a foremost Urhobo son and President General of UPU.
It is instructive to opine that whoever is peeved by the views and opinions of Chief Joe Omene is a rabble rouser intent on plunging Delta state into unnecessary ethnic tainted political rivalry, hence agent provocateurs like the “Delta scholars” who are on the payroll of discredited and sullied Ijaw politicians should be admonished to eschew bearding the Urhobo in their den, otherwise, we will be forced to unmask these rabid dogs and their sponsors and thereafter, appropriate sanctions will be meted out accordingly.
The misguided Ijaws of Delta state should be matured enough to realise that their days of political impunity and civic rascality bolstered by the GEJ presidency is now history. Any unwarranted braggadocio or violent bellicosity from the Ijaws will be countered by a disproportionate counterforce unparalleled in the anals of Delta state.
Henceforth, any and every attempt by sponsored hirelings and irredentists of Ijaw extraction will be timely and judiciously addressed to serve as a deterrent to other groups and tribes contemplating a connivance to undermine the Urhobos and subvert our right to government house Asaba which we have patiently waited for in the last 13+ years.
The Ijaws are adviced to imbibe the virtues of patience and its salutary effects on existential good neighbourliness. Plotting to torpedo the time honoured zoning arrangements in Delta state PDP is an ill wind that will blow no good.
Be rest assured, the Ijaws can never ever intimidate the Urhobos into selling their birthrights by beating the drums of war, the Urhobo history is replete with tales of valour, we give more than we receive. Hence, we candidly wish to advice the few greedy and over ambitious Ijaw politicians to gingerly borrow patience from their urhobo neighbours and wait patiently until power is zoned back to Delta south, then they can bully other tribes in their senatorial zone and make their brash violence backed bid for government house Asaba.
The zoning of the 2023 governorship ticket to Delta Central is a done and sealed deal. Thankfully, the Delta state PDP chairman has reiterated the sacrosanct nature of the zoning arrangement in Delta state. Nonetheless, the Ijaws are hereby advised to desist from all covert and overt subterfuge against the legitimate desire and ambition of the Urhobos to produce the next governor of Delta state after a 16 years excruciating wait. Let us all join hands to build and develop a Delta state of our dreams.