Osu r’ Urhobo of Lagos, Chief Vincent Ahwi

LAGOS FEBRUARY 12TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The Osu R’ Urhobo of Lagos, Chief Vincent Ahwi  has described as an aberration for Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Lagos to arrogate the authority of control over Urhobo Traditional Council of Chiefs in Lagos (UTCCL) . The Osu equally reiterated that it is misleading for UPU Lagos to claim that it created Urhobo Traditional Council of Chief in Lagos (UTCCL).

Chief Vincent  Ahwi  response  arose  based on a communiqué issued by  Lagos UPU after arising from  an extra ordinary meeting of the leaders of the Group held on Friday, January 24, 2025 at the residence of Okobaro r’ Urhobo in Ikorodu, High Chief Philip Edemete, former President UPU Apapa branch and former member UPU National Council of representatives.  The communiqué was signed by two secretaries on behalf of the Okobaro of Ikorodu, High Chief Philip Edemete, Chief Fidelis Odia, President, UPU, Ikeja Branch, Chief Joseph Emaniru, President, UPU, Apapa Branch and nine other UPU leaders in Lagos state.

The Okobaro noted that the original notice for the 2025 edition of the Thanksgiving service showed UPU and UTCCL as co-sponsor of the event. However, while he was mobilizing his chiefs and members of the UPU for participation in the event, information came that one Edafe Theocracy, Public Relation Officer (PRO) of UTCCL has requested that UPU be dropped from the Thanksgiving service as a precondition for his participation in the event. Surprisingly, the Osu r’ Urhobo in Lagos, Chief Vincent Ahwi, against counsel and good judgment, conceded to Theocracy’s demand and had UPU dropped from the whole arrangement.

“This action of Theocracy brought to mind his earlier directive to all Urhobo in Lagos that the UTCCL, is superior to the UPU in the hierarchy of Urhobo leadership in Lagos. Chief Ahwi had on several occasions been advised to call Theocracy and some of his Council chiefs to order but he had remained adamant. Resultantly, the UPU vide a letter dated July 15, 2024 directed Chief Ahwi to retract the superiority claims by the UTCCL over the UPU. Following his refusal to retract the said claims or respond to the letter, Chief Ahwi was invited for a meeting on August 7, 2024, which was attended by fifteen members of both branches of the UPU and the UTCCL. During the meeting, Chief Ahwi stated that the UPU and the UTCCL are vehicles for the development of the Urhobos in Lagos and therefore an error of superiority claims and referred to the letter as “mischievous”, as there is no nexus between the two bodies.  Chief Edafe however owned up on the publication to which he apologized and pull down the write-ups and the parley ended with praise, prayers, fanfare and peaceful resolution.  Curiously, the UPU

called the UTCCL for a written reply to issues already resolved and to which it refused.

“Surprisingly, on August 9, 2024, Theocracy made a publication on the platform of UTCCL using the logo and letterhead of the UPU without authorization. Thus, by the superiority claim, the UTCCL had placed itself over and above the UPU and by the unauthorized use of the UPU logo and letterhead, appropriated the powers of the President General of the UPU,” the communiqué read.

The meeting also recalled that on February 14, 2024, the presidents of Apapa and Ikeja engaged Chief Ahwi on his poor performance, stating that the only thing he does is annual Thanksgiving Service, to which Chief Ahwi ignored for lack of nexus. It is now clear from a recent video gone viral that the President General, Urhobo Progress Union (World-wide), Chief (Barr.) Ese Gam Oweh had on several occasions expressed concerns on the capacity of Chief Ahwi to lead the Urhobo Chiefs in Lagos.

Conclusively, after serious deliberations, the meeting came to the following conclusions that “firstly, the utterances and actions of Edafe Theocracy and some members of the UTCCL have continued to constitute an affront to the leadership of UPU in Lagos just as they pose great threat to the peace, unity and progress of Urhobo people in Lagos. The question begging for answers is how, when the same President General, Urhobo Progress Union (World-wide), Chief (Barr.) Ese Gam Oweh appointed the same  Chief Dafe to restructure the current UPU, Lagos, with the President of the Urhobo Social Club, as Deputy?

“Secondly, the silence of Chief Ahwi in the face of all the insults emanating from members of his Council shows clearly that he, Chief Vincent Ahwi has lost grip of the Urhobo Council of Chiefs, Lagos and has ceded his position and authority to Theocracy, to which the UTCCL described as petty and gossip allegations.

“Thirdly, Chief Ahwi has denigrated the constitution of UTCCL by admitting and allowing non UPU members to dictate the pace of affairs in the UTCCL.” With the benefit of hindsight, Chief Ahwi could recall how the UPUs were begging for a simple reply to which he refused.

Consequently, they resolve that, “a. That Chief Awhi is hereby directed to suspend Edafe Theocracy from the Urhobo Traditional Council of Chiefs, Lagos with immediate effect for the affront to the leadership of UPU and his threat to the peace, unity and progress of Urhobo people in Lagos.

“b.That Chief Awhi is hereby directed to fix another date for the Thanksgiving Service, print and circulate another invitation card with UPU and UTCCL as cosponsors.

“c. That failure to comply with these directives within SEVEN days of receipt of this communique the UPU, Lagos will WITHDRAW ITS SUPPORT for Chief Ahwi as Osu R’ Urhobo in Lagos and will commence the process of selecting another Osu to replace Chief Ahwi.”

Reacting to the communiqué, Chief  Ahwi  insisted that  it is misleading that UPU Lagos created Urhobo Traditional Council of Chief in Lagos (UTCCL) as there is not a single nexus, other than by tribe – Urhobo.

According to him, “Yes it could be selective members of UPU  who sat together as  Chiefs resident in Lagos which is considered a foreign land to form the UTCCL for self defence, development in addition to UPU to negotiate their stay as a key shareholders amongst others. But for UPU to say they want to control the UTCCLS is an aberration of the highest order.

“My argument is that they want to exact control over the UTCCL and we are saying NO in the absence of any nexus and so they do not have such power.  They are claiming they created UTCCL but do they have any evidence to show us how it was created? That is number one.  Number two, okay let’s agree without conceding that UTCCL is their creation but that creation does not give them control over the UTCCL.

“As a body we have processes at which we process information, at every meeting.  The idea of order or control does not arise.

“The issue of superiority should not arise between the two bodies as the UPU was created in 1931, while the UTCCL was created in 1954 as vehicles or means of driving the dreams of the Urhobo Nation so as to promote the progress, peace and unity of the Urhobos.  A lot of us who occupy various offices in the Urhobo Nation crave for power and consequently misinterpret it as we seem NOT to have the knowledge of power. The knowledge of power starts with the fear of God.  We are all engaged in the services of our Urhobo Nation and not for self-aggrandizement.

“However, this issue of power claims reoccurs each time a new executive of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) is elected either at National or Local level. This our Lagos State is more affected and impacted negatively by the activities of these newly elected UPU executives, as you would have observed in the last 10 years to date.”.

Ahwi described the allegation of dropping UPU from the annual Thanksgiving arrangement on the order of Edafe Theocracy as false, and a way of repressing knowledgeable Urhobo sons and daughters.

“The allegation is false as matters are discussed extensively and agreed at the Urhobo Traditional Council of Chiefs, Lagos (UTCCL), and so no room to give an order exists.  It is another show of power with adequate knowledge.

“Go back to history, I am the first OSU that started a joint annual thanksgiving service with UTCCL and UPU. The past Osus were doing the thanksgiving without members of UPU.  The Lagos UPU have never taken financial responsibility for the annual thanksgiving. Most  of the time, I bear the cost.  I can still move on bearing the cost. As for fixing another date for the joint thanksgiving service,  I have no problem with it,” he stated.

He argued  that the UPU allegation of lack of performance  is false hence  they could not mention any metric to assess the performance of the Urhobo Traditional Council of Chiefs, Lagos (UTCCL).

On the alleged overbearing attitude of  Dafe Theocracy  and some council members, which constitutes affront to the leadership of UPU in Lagos, Ahwi described the claim as  phony hence people craving for power do not  see the good of others except themselves.

“They brought Chief Edafe Theocracy to me after his challenging campaign of “where are the Urhobos, UPUs, Osu, Chiefs, etc., in Lagos and not organizing URHOBO DAY?  He eventually conducted an URHOBO-OVUOVO DAY in 2023, which was graciously attended by all Urhobos – UPU, UTCCL, Clubs including Urhobo Social Clubs and  Associations among others.  The records of Chief Edafe’s activities in the form of videos, audios and fliers are in the public purview and therefore not hidden.  His activities were so glaring that Chief (Barr.) Ese Gam Oweh, the President-General of the UPU, Worldwide appointed him to re-organise the UPUs in Lagos State and to be assisted by the President of Urhobo Social Club, Lagos.  We in the UTCCL also appointed him as our Public Relations Officer (PRO). He must be overbearing to ineptitude and what is wrong with that?

“The UPU just held their Urhobo Day and where is the UTCCL in the scheme of things, before, during and after the event, even when they paid levies as members of the UPU?  Chief Ahwi and several members of the UTCCL were sidelined despite their huge contributions and why?

The UPU is yet to give account of money collected and spent in the special event and the UTCCL will NOT tolerate such an attitude”, Chief Ahwi added.

He advised that Urhobos need to re-orientate themselves  to give credence to one another and not castigation, hate, falsehood, abuse, pull-him-down (PHD), and above all to have the knowledge of power which begins with the fear of God.

“We members of UTCCL will plead with the Ukoko r’ Ivie to remove the curse placed on the past Executive of UPU and hand over the Urhobo Nation to God,” he appealed.

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