Air Vice Marshal (rtd) Frank Ajobena has stirred controversy with his comments on the marginalisation of the Okpe Kingdom in Delta State.
Speaking at the 95th anniversary of Okpe Union in Lagos, Ajobena highlighted the alleged pecking order in Delta Central, where Okpe people were treated as second-class citizens.
Ajobena claimed that Ughelli people were often favoured first, followed by Ethiope East and Agbon people, while Okpe, despite being the majority, is often left out.
‘’There is a pecking order in the state. Every time something good comes to Delta Central, it has to go first to the Ughelli people. The next in the pecking order are the Ethiope East people, the Agbon people.
”The Okpe, who are majority, are the least in the pecking order. You could see it even when the contest for the governorship was on. There was a gang up.
”They didn’t want an Okpe person to be governor. It took a lot of canvassing and the grace of God for the Okpe person to emerge as governor. That position is still being contested by those by those who think they are born to rule Delta State, ” he stated
He attributed the emergence of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to “a lot of canvassing and the grace of God,” suggesting that there was opposition to an Okpe person becoming governor.
Ajobena emphasised the importance of identity, sayingthat Okpe is a distinct nationality with its own language and ancestry, separate from Urhobo.
He said,’The issue of identity is fundamental. I don’t know why our brothers are apprehensive of Okpe establishing itself as a nationality.
”If you go to google and you look at the definition of ethnic nationality, it is well defined. It is a people that share a common ancestry.
”We do not share a common ancestry with Urhobo people. It further defined people that share the same language. We do not share the same language with the Urhobos.
”If you speak Okpe in the midst of Urhobo people, they will say you are speaking in tongues. They don’t understand what you are saying. All these questions that Okpe is Urhobo is for political adventure and political gains.
”They want to project the Urhobo as a large ethnic nationality. So, they use Okpe to feather their own nest’’
He attributed Okpe’s backwardness to being tied to the Urhobo agenda, which he believed treats Okpe people as second-class citizens.
Ajobena urged Okpe leaders to review their political position to save the kingdom from further marginalisation.
He warned those celebrating Okpe as part of the Urhobo ethnic nationality to admit their mistake and work towards recognition of Okpe’s distinct identity.
