Delta Monarch Reveals Why He Does Not Attend Public Events

By Kenneth Orusi, The Nigerian Voice, Asaba

A first class monarch in Delta state, the Dein of Agbor, said his none appearance at public functions is due to his reverend throne, saying first class monarchs of his nature do not come out regularly.

He said as of today in the state he and the Olu of Warri are the only first class monarchs recognized by the federal government from the western region to the Midwestern region to Bendel and currently Delta State.

"as a result of that, just as you notice with other first class monarchies in the country, like Sokoto, Ife, the Oba of Benin, we do not go out regularly".

He stated this when members of the Indigenous Correspondents'Chapel (ICC), of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ),:Delta State Council paid him a courtesy visit in his palace in Agbor.

"It is not something that we do on a regular basis, I would like to on a more regular basis but you have to understand that for me to step out, I cannot just get up and go myself. I cannot go without my retune of my chiefs; I cannot go without my retune of people. The king does not go by himself. So, I have to be very peculiar choosing which of the events that I will attend. If I feel that the event is extremely relevant, then of course I will attend", he explained.

Speaking on the land tussle between Emuhu community, Ika south in his kingdom and Umunede, Ika north east which led to the arrest of some youths in Emuhu, the highly respected king said: "It is existingt till today, is something that is ongoing but that was quite some time ago that we had that meeting and I do remember I do ask one of the parents sitting here at the palace to go and find out about the people that were arrested and in fact what was reported back to me was that there some criminality aspects as to why they were arrested.

"That been the case, I removed myself from that issue. For me if you put your hands into iniquity, then you will be judged accordingly. There are ways to handle disputes. Handling disputes should never be handled by shouting, arguing, fighting. These are not going to help you, it is only going to prolong the issue.

"As it is now, even myself I am not too happy about the boundary demarcation between Agbor and Umunede. There is no boundary per say between Emuhu and Umunede because Emuhu is part and parcel of the Agbor kingdom, so as to protect my people there, Emuhu, I wouldn’t leave them there to say they have a boundary dispute with Umunede.

"Umunede, has a boundary dispute with Agbor and at the appropriate time my brother then Umunede, when we met the last time that this issue was on, we were able to resolve this and eventually it will still get to that point where the two of us will sit down and we will resolve this because at the end of the day, you can make up as much as you want but records are records. If we go back into the records we will be able to trace where is the original boundary? So, that is not so much of an issue per say".

Speaking on the current leadership of the state government he rated the Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa administration as the best in the history of the state.

Hear him: "The Delta government that we have now, is one of the best performing state governments that we have had in this country for a very long time and of course that has been proved by the resounding victory that the governor just managed to exemplify for all the contracts you see.

"From the very first time he started he has not failed his people and he has continued to go from strength to strength. Indeed this is the government that I am extremely pleased with and they have my complete and absolute support but you must understand that as a monarch I am not partisan when it comes to politics",;he added