TUBUTORU- The people of Tubutoru Kingdom in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo state have all gathered in large numbers yesterday at Taribo community to celebrate the successful coronation of their new King, His Royal Majesty, Pere Gbebokedi Ajiri-Oba, the Oguruyeke, Okirimini 1 of Tubutoru Kingdom.
The four days high powered traditionally loaded coronation ceremony came to an end yesterday as the monarch was crowned according to the customs and traditions of the Tubutoru Kingdom.
His Royal Majesty, Pere Gbebokedi, D. Ajiri-Oba, Oguruyeke, Okirimini 1 of Tubutoru Kingdom in his welcome address thanked the Lord Almighty for making him the first King of the Kingdom.
He particularly alleged that his subjects should see his emergence as the beginning of good things to come , stressing that his Kingdom over the years have suffered high handed deprivation and untold neglect while noting that he will use his revered office to draw development to the entire Kingdom.
Okirimini maintains that his ultimate desire is to see that the entire Kingdom is united, he however charged members of his dynasty to have respect for one another while noting that the issue of moving forward as a Kingdom is dependent on such harmonious alignment
The monarch pledges to work with every other Ijaw Kingdom in the Niger Delta to bring lasting peace for the much needed development in the region.
Oguruyeke implore his people to be happy as he said the dark and gloomy days are over, while charging them to be ready to enjoy the harvest of development and its siblings when it storm the Kingdom.
In an interview with Gbaramatu Voice Newspaper on the coronation ceremony, high Chief Gaius Wariugo, a retired civil servant and a leader of thought in Tubutoru Kingdom described the ceremony as historic, emphasising that it would now usher in development that have eluded them in many years
“I will say that the ceremony is very fantastic, because this has never happened in this kingdom before. I was born more than sixty years ago and I’ve not experienced this before, not even my fathers, because they never told me about such. This is the first remarkable thing that is happening in this kingdom. I give kudos to everyone that contributed to the success of this event.
“This will facilitate development because even the Nigeria constitution has a place for traditional rulers. The traditional stool in Tubutoru kingdom, which we’ve not gotten before will no doubt bring development, including infrastructural development, because we know that we now have a King that will draw the government’s attention for the betterment of the entire Tubutoru kingdom.
There have been an age long festival we do annually and we call it Koleke festival. We all embrace it when it comes. It lasts almost three days. It is mainly for cleansing. If things are not working fine and we do the festival, things will definitely work well and we have over 20 different communities that make up this Kingdom” Chief Wariugo asserted.
On their parts, Chief Joseph Uduboh, the Tunteriwei of Tubutoru kingdom and double Chief Julius Ogoba, the Miekeremowei of the Kingdom expresses confidence on the capacity of the new King, alleging that the birth of the Kingdom will resuscitate many things with particular emphasis to the St. Timothy Primary School in Taribo, the traditional headquarters of the Kingdom allegedly founded by the Christ Missionary Society, CMS in 1945.
When asked on the level of underdevelopment in the Kingdom, the Councilor and Chief whip in Odigbo Local Government legislative chamber representing Ebijoh Ward 6, Hon.(Chief) Ayebi Oteigha, who hails from the Kingdom gives a political insight on the scheme of things while declaring that he will use his office and political contacts in the State to deliver development in the Kingdom
“Politically speaking, as a people, we are facing lots of tough time, nevertheless, I think with the golden opportunity given to me to represent the good people of Tubutoru as Ebijoh ward, I believe with our good relationship with the chairman and our contact with the state government, I know we will get lots of developmental strides, within a short period of time. Before you can build a political arena, the people must have permanent voter’s card (PVC), they must be registered properly, the people must be inculcated into the political system. When the people are inculcated and vibrant people are there, I think the government must respond to them. We always orient the people, we have a seminar within the Local Government were we can be orienting them.” Hon. Oteigha said.
A leader in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Arch.Azaiye Piniki charged the people of Tubutoru to hold zealously on what they have, stressing that Kingship brings development.
“What is happening here today is something that will open this place, it ought to have happened long before now, even though its happening now, we still have to thank God, this type of ceremony is laudable, Kingship brings development to a place, the people of Tubutoru should hold fast to what they have, tomorrow the benefit of it is enormous which they can’t even quantify , Gbaramatu as a Kingdom is closely related to Tubutoru right from the days of old we intermarried, most people from Gbaramatu have blood ties to this Kingdom” Azaiye stated.
In similar manner, Mr. Augustus Powei, an envoy from Arogbo Kingdom on his part decried the high level of underdevelopment while maintaining that the emergence of the new King will turn such fearful scenario for good.
“When we came in, we saw that the only primary school in the community is not well built at all, this indicates that the government in the area have long forgotten our people and with the coronation of of the King today is a sign that we want to now bring the attention of the government to our people, which has been culturally disorganized because of the lack of government presence in our community. The coronation is marvellously organized and we see it as a Green Light that will bring development to our community. My message to Niger Deltans is to see that we must come together, bring the attention of the government to come and integrate our people culturally, socially and politically” Mr. Powei noted
The coronation ceremony was hugely attended by political bigwigs, individuals and envoys from different kingdoms in the Ijaw dynasty, prominent among them are The leader and other principal officers of the Odigbo legislative house, Mr. Ekomieyefa Uduboh; Hon. Prince Opuofeni; PDP Bomadi Local Government Chairman and Board Member Delta State Land Allocation; Hon. Oloye Joseph; Hon. Ebi Lubi; the Nigerian Police Force Ore division, the department of State Security Service, DSS, community and youth leaders across board with the host of others too numerous to mention.
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