FEATURE
The Divinity of Uvwie kingship
By Prince Dada Idiemor
The belief system of Uvwie Kingdom was created by Uvwie, the father of Uvwie people, concretized by the great Ovie Imowe and given more credence by the life and time of the great Ovie Okorovie. This belief system which encompasses the entire life of the Uvwie people includes the divinity of the Uvwie kingship. It claims that for the Uvwie people to live in peace and prosperity, their king must be a direct descendant of Ovie Imowe.
This theory of the divine right of kings which argues that there can be only one royal family in a kingdom, one king and that kings are gods themselves and derive their authority from this status has been a remarkably enduring feature of the Uvwie community from the time of Imowe to the time before the colonial era. This was therefore the general belief as at the time of the ascension of Ovie Erumagborie 1 as Ovie of Uvwie in 1840. At this time, one usually hears the word Ovieredjor, meaning king of the deity, a word or appellation which confers on the king the number one position among the gods of the land and emphasizes the divine nature of the king. People actually worship the king at this pre-colonial era and his word can never be questioned because it is seen as emanating from the mouth of a god.
The resentment of African traditional beliefs and culture caused by the coming of the colonial masters and Christianity threw this aspect of the belief of the divine nature of Uvwie kingship into question. As more people were converted into Christianity, less number of people took part in the ancestral worship of the land of which the king was the chief celebrant; the power and authority of kings continued to diminish and people were then able to question and oppose the king's authority, more support were then given to the colonial masters and their warrant officers who originally had no authority.
Upon the request of the British Consul, Major Claude MacDonald, Ovie Erumagborie1 handed over his kingdom for British protection in 1891, and appointed Chief Arigbe to deputize for him on political matters at Warri. One of the treaties was signed with Effurun in 1894 with the representatives of the seven major families of Uvwie and Erumagborie as the Ovie of Uvwie was the number one signatory in the treaty. At the death of Chief Arigbe, Ovie Erumagborie appointed the next Unuevworo and Odibokporo of Uvwie, Chief Agbamu to succeed him; Agbamu was in turn succeeded by Chief Ejumujeke, the Unuevworo of Ogbe and Odibokporo of Uvwie. In 1927, tax popularly called head money was to be collected by the colonial masters but the word head money meant a different thing to Uvwie people. It was the money normally paid by a freed slave to his former master or by a conquered people to their conquerors. In Uvwie, after many years of service of a slave to his master, he might be given freedom but at every festival period he is expected to pay some amount of money and goods which are traditionally called head money to his former master as appreciation for the freedom granted him.
Therefore, when the payment of this head money was introduced, it was generally resented by the traditional council; even palm kernel and eggs trade with the colonial masters was totally suspended. Apropaganda was launched by the colonial masters and their warrant chiefs on the advantages of the head money tro the entire community, and the fact that the traditional council would be paid from the proceeds, but it not get the approval of the traditional council which resulted in the arrest of Ovie Erumagborie 1 and other high chiefs through the conspiracy of the warrant chiefs who betrayed the Uvwie people. While in prison, a woman was asked to pour her menstrual fluid in a bowl of water, and the polluted water was poured on the body of Ovie Erumagborie 1 to neutralize the power on him. His long dreadlocked hair was also shaven by the colonial masters and the warrant chiefs. Several other unbelievable acts were meted on Ovie Erumagborie 1 to intimidate him to give in, but he stood his ground with dignity as a true Urhobo Uvwie monarch. An average Urhobo man is very proud and as such always protects his dignity like every proud man.
This was the fact demonstrated by in the colonial era when the Urhobo people led by the Ovie of Uvwie, Erumagborie 1 stood against imperialist exploitation. He maintained high discipline and virile system of administration to the extent that even the immediate Uvwie neighbours happily came under the authority and umbrella of the Uvwie monarchy. This made many people at that time to regard Uvwie kingdom as the torchbearer of the Urhobo nation. With this balanced system that he maintained via the clan council (Eguare Orubu) he was able to suspend trade with the colonial masters in his domain and ordered boycott of the clan court that was representing the colonial masters in addition to banning payment of poll tax by Uvwie people. After his release, he was carried on his cart to return home and on reaching Jakpa Junction in Effurun he was surprised to find that the Uvwie daily market was on.
This angered him and he placed a curse that Uvwie people would never live peace and unity anymore until they realize the essence of a king. He also placed a curse on the warrant chiefs that betrayed him to the colonial masters. On reaching his palace, he called a meeting of the traditional council where the chiefs expressed their fear of the white man and advised that the fight should be discontinued. But Ovie Erumagborie made it clear at the meeting that as a king he cannot make two statements in his lifetime, and emphasized that after his death his descendant successor can be advised to change his decision. In the night of that day, he died. He was missed and mourned by all the Urhobo clans as a fellow who displayed the spirit of true nationalism.
The Lagos Daily News of Monday February 6, 1928 published by the doyen of Nigeria nationalism, Herbert Macaulay painted the picture in a dramatic style. In 1960 during the tussle for the Ovie of Uvwie stool, the Uvwie General Improvement Union (UGIU) also made several publications in support of this hero. Three years after his burial, some hunters claimed to have seen his spirit on a very big canoe, promising that he will reincarnate to restore the glory of the Uvwie nation that is about to crumble. At his death, the fight in Uvwie began again due to culture clash between the Western world and that of Uvwie people. A clear analysis of the present conflict over Uvwie traditional leadership would show that history is about to repeat itself. The actors are all represented in this historic drama of Uvwie Kingdom - Prince Randolph Erumagborie in place of Ovie Okorovie; Chief Emmanuel Sideso in place of Onoseri; Chief Atiyota Egere in place of Ogbogbor; Chief Ambrose Olughor in place of Orhorobe; Chief Ogan Ugavah in place of Imonisan; Chief Stephen Onaodowan in place of Edjekuvwie and Chief Mike Torey in place of Ovwovwo. It is also worthy of mention that Orovwo Orere of Effurun-Otor is the title of a senior Ohonvwore (Chief) as contained in the intelligence report on Effurun-Otor Clan. The question now is how come the Orovwe Orere now ascribes to himself the right to confer chieftaincy titles on some persons of Uvwie Kingdom? Can a chief confer chieftaincy title on another chief? Indeed the travails of the Uvwie ethnic nation today is the lot of an ethnic nation that has continued to ignore the divinity of the Uvwie kingship as created by the Erumagborie royal dynasty, and attempting to truncate the high discipline and virile administration introduced into the community by the Imowe royal lineage. Another question is, will everything eventually turn out to be the same like in the days of Ovie Okorovie? Only time will tell.