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By Young Erhiurhoro
I have done a publication on the above subject sometimes ago. Interestingly, it generated a very hot debate and criticism especially from the Evwreni people, querying me why I said, Unenurhie is senior to Evwreni. Some even went to the extent of threatening to arrest me, with the police, and charging me to court for writing such an article. Yet, in all the threats, harassments, embarrassments and humiliations from these people, I am perturbed or moved from expressing the pains and agonies of the Unenurhie people to the world.
However, without claiming to be a prophet, Unenurhie people already know that this co-habitation with the Evwreni people as members of one kingdom can never be fruitful or beneficial to them. There is virtually no achievement the Unenurhie people can happily point out from their own end that has been yielded from this Evwreni and Unenurhie marriage.
This is the more reason, as a member and a leader of Unenurhie community, I stand on the part of truth, even if there are people that are bent on silencing my voice at all cost or trying to bury this truth from existence. But we must equally know that, the truth can’t be buried. You can only delay it, but it will surely surface one day.
Therefore, as I have pointed out in past publications on this same issue of Evwreni and Unenurhie seniority, I still want to bring out some hidden facts and truth about the true relationship between Evwreni and Unenurhie.
First and foremost, when Usu, the founder and forebear of Unenurhie community and Ewurhu, the founder of Evwreni first sailed from Elele, a village in the present Rivers state centuries ago, they and their families first landed at Unenurhie community. From the oral history presented to us, they lived in Unenurhie for a very long time before eventually Ewurhu went on hunting expedition across the present boundary river that separates Unenurhie and Evwreni. It was during this hunting expedition that Ewurhu, who was a younger brother to Usu killed an elephant.
As we all know, elephant is such a huge animal that can’t be easily carried on head. This therefore prompted Ewurhu to go back home to break the news to his elder brother, Usu and other members of the family. It was really a happy moment for their brother to kill such a huge animal. Since he couldn’t carry it home, Ewurhu and some other persons in the village went across the river to where the animal was killed for butchering. According to the oral history, the elephant was butchered there and Ewurhu and some of the people that accompanied him never returned to Unenurhie again. They erected huts there as their normal ways of life and they named the new camp Evwreni, which literarily means, “the village of elephants”.
From this oral history, let’s check the facts below to ascertain whether the oral history is correct or it was just cooked story by the Unenurhie people. First, because Unenurhie is the original home of the Evwreni people, many of them have farmlands at Unenurhie which they farm in every farming season in Unenurhie community till today. This is so because their forebears were in Unenurhie when they newly came. They were doing farming and hunting activities to feed in those Unenurhie forests and bushes. These farmlands were inherited by their children and it was a continuous process, even till today.
Take note, these farmlands we are referring to here were not owned or inherited by Evwreni people as a result of inter-marriage between Unenurhie and Evwreni people. Now, I want any Evwreni person to point to me and the general public any farmland owned by Unenurhie people at Evwreni which they are farming till date? If they can point one or two of such farmlands to us, the same way we have pointed to them, it therefore mean the Unenurhie oral history is a mere fallacy.
Secondly, as our culture and traditions demand, Evwreni people can carry firewoods from the forests and bushes of Unenurhie community across the boundary river to their homes. It’s never a taboo for Evwreni people to do that. On the other hand, no Unenurhie man or woman can carry pieces of firewood from Evwreni forests or farmlands to cross the boundary river to Unenurhie community. It’s a big taboo on the part of Unenurhie people. Like what I was rightly told by some of our elders in Unenurhie community, this tradition is so because as Ewurhu and his people settled at his new camp, they still came to Unenurhie for farming and to also take some basic necessities from Unenurhie back to his new camp. I want the Evwreni people to prove me wrong on this fact.
Thirdly, before the sudden emergence of the Ovie traditional stool, which is today not even comfortable with some sections of the Evwreni people, the recognized traditional ruler of the then Evwreni kingdom during the colonial era was the Odion’Rode from Unenurhie community. This traditional stool was the only original and recognized traditional stool in Evwreni kingdom. The gazette from the colonial government to this traditional ruler as recognized and approved by the government is still with the Unenurhie leadership. This old traditional institution was overturned in the late 60s as the Ovie traditional stool was created by certain people in Evwreni community during the Mid-Western state when late Chief Jereton Samuel Mariere, an Evwreni man was the governor. We were even told stories of how major traditional council meetings of Evwreni kingdom were being hosted at Unenurhie community by the Odion’Rode as the traditional seat of governance in the whole kingdom. Today, the position of the Odion’Rode was killed and reduced to a second fiddle. That Odion’Rode position from Unenurhie community is today neither a subordinate nor an actor in the hierarchy of Evwreni traditional leadership.
Lastly, I want to conclude this short piece by saying that, without sentiments and political hegemony, no Evwreni man can dispute the truth that Unenurhie is senior to Evwreni. This is undisputable fact, even people that are not part of the kingdom know of. Let me also expressively make it clear again that, Evwreni should stop claiming seniority because their name was used to create the kingdom. As it’s today, Evwreni is big in geographical size and also big in population. This is why, in most creations, they usually remain as headquarters. But this is not enough to claim seniority just because they owned the whole world. A senior may be small in everything, but we should respect and honour the senior. For instance, Erowa is the senior in the entire Isoko ethnic group. Even though it’s small in size, the other Isoko kingdoms always give Erowa the honour it deserved as their senior. In the same way, I implore the Evwreni people to give Unenurhie the honour it deserves as senior in Evwreni kingdom if they actually want this our co-habitation to continue as people of one kingdom.
Young Erhiurhoro;Kjc is a reporter and a member of the Urhobo Historical Society.
