Crisis looms in Warri over chieftaincy stool

Sylvester Idowu, Warri - 19.02.2008

There is a fresh crisis in Effurun, headquarters of Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, after a faction of the Traditional Council of Chiefs crowned a former production manager of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, Chief Emmanuel Sidesoh, as the Ovie (monarch) of Uvwie.

Already, a faction of the Uvwie Local Government Transition Chairman opposed to the ceremony has called for the removal of the chairman of the council, Dr. Robert Ejifoma, for meddling in traditional institutions and threatening the peace in Uvwie Kingdom.

The Uvwie Council, at a press conference in Effurun on Monday, addressed by Chief Hope Erute on behalf of the council, said the action of the local government council chairman since he assumed office was aimed at creating tension in the community by attempting to implement his “hidden agenda.”

Nigerian Tribune gathered that a meeting with the state Commissioner of Police which called for reconciliation failed last Sunday, after some members of the council accused Dr. Ejifoma of abandoning the agenda of reconciliation for which the high chiefs were invited and went into the issue of installation of a new Ovie of Uvwie.

Chief Erute noted that the high chiefs present protested vehemently but he ignored the chiefs despite the facts that installation of an Ovie of Uvwie was not under his mandate.

“The LG chairman’s action clearly revealed that he had a hidden agenda to install an Ovie of Uvwie without due process as stipulated under the 1979 Chieftaincy edict thereby provoking unnecessary tension in Uvwie Kingdom.”