Explore the Urhobo Progress Union and its significance in Sapele community, highlighting its cultural heritage and history.
Urhobo Progress Union: The Sapele community, also known as Urhiapele is exclusively an indigenous community in Okpe Kingdom.
The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), an Apex Socio-Cultural Organization of the Urhobo Nation, disclosed the above statement. Dr Oghenevwairhe K. Taiga, the National Publicity Secretary of UPU, signed it.
Dr Taiga said that, historically and customarily, it is undeniable that Okpe people are the first settlers. They are the original landowners and aboriginal inhabitants of Sapele.
Dr Taiga responded to an open letter by Chief Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan. The letter was addressed to the Minister of Environment. In it, the Chief stated that existing known Sapele communities are all Itsekiri Communities.
Dr Taiga, in his statement, further disclosed a key point. The ownership of Sapele land by Okpe people is not due to colonial allocation. It is neither due to commercial enterprise nor political convenience. It is a result of ancestral lineage and primordial settlement. This remains the strongest foundation of indigenous title under African Customary Law.
Dr Taiga also added, “This fact is established by aboriginal settlement and continuous occupation. It is also supported by ancestral land ownership, customary governance and authority, and indigenous oral history preserved across generations.
“The claim that Sapele was “never an Okpe community” is hence historically false and fundamentally untenable.”
According to the National Publicity Secretary of the Urhobo Progress Union, there are actually Itsekiri people in Sapele.
They migrated into Sapele as refugees due to conflicts and instability in the coastal axis. Some came as traders, attracted by Sapele’s emergence as a major Okpe Commercial centre. Fishermen also settled along the riverine area with the consent and tolerance of the Okpe as landowners.
Dr Taiga noted that, “these migration has never conferred the founding rights. It has not granted aboriginal ownership, political sovereignty, nor traditional supremacy over Sapele. These migrations occurred within Okpe territory and under Okpe Customary Authority.
“Migration, irrespective of duration or economic success, does not transform settlers into indigens. It does not extinguish the rights of aboriginal owners”.
The apex socio-cultural organization of Urhobo Nation stated that Okpe people uphold Urhobo cultural values. They extended hospitality, protection, and economic accommodation to migrant communities in Sapele. This hospitality paved the way for peaceful coexistence. It also contributed to commercial growth in what later became a cosmopolitan town.
Urhobo Progress Union, nevertheless, said such hands of hospitality should not be mistaken as a transfer of ownership. This applies whether it is done innocently or deliberately. It should not be seen as a transfer of authority.
The UPU said Chief Uduaghan’s assertion that Itsekiri communities existed in Sapele “from time immemorial” is historically indefensible. Indigenous ownership is determined by first settlement and ancestral continuity. Both belonged to the Okpe people in Sapele. They stated, “There is no credible oral tradition. There is no indigenous account. There is no binding historical record that establishes the Itsekiri as original settlers or aboriginal owners of Sapele.”
Dr Taiga said that the selective reliance on 1930 Intelligence Report on Okpe Sobo Clan by L.E.H. is misleading. Colonial Intelligence reports were administrative instruments compiled for governance convenience.
They were never exhaustive declarations of indigenous land ownership, nor were they designed to extinguish pre-colonial customary rights. The listing of Okpe settlements such as Amukpe, Elume, Orerokpe, and Gbukurusu does not exclude Sapele from Okpe territory.
It shows the internal administrative and settlement diversity of the Okpe Kingdom. Within this kingdom, Sapele served as a major commercial and administrative centre.
The Urhobo Progress Union body said the reference to Suit No. S/23/74: Washi Ogodo & Sapele Okpe Communal Land Trustees & Ors is a distortion of judicial reasoning. This was used as proof that “there is nothing like Sapele Okpe Community Lands.” Courts adjudicate on specific claims before them. They do not pronounce sweeping historical absolutes unless directly pleaded and proven.
Part of the statement reads”
No Nigerian court has ever declared Sapele to be exclusively Itsekiri land. It has never denied the aboriginal ownership of Sapele by the Okpe people. Judicial outcomes must not be selectively extracted to advance claims that the courts never made.”
Discover more from Urhobo Daily
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
