By Francis Ewherido
Recently, the current executive of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) led by Chief Ese Gam Owe paid a solidarity visit to the immediate past governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, after he came back from honouring an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). Predictably, the visit caused mixed reactions among Urhobos.
My interest today is the dragging in of Olorogun Moses Taiga’s name into a visit that has nothing to do with him. When you mention Olorogun Taiga in other spheres of his life, it really has nothing to do with me, but once you mention Olorogun Taiga as former UPU President General, you drag me in automatically because I was deeply involved in his emergence as UPU President General and my name cropped up in a visit I was neither privy to nor part of.
Some commentators raised some issues and that is my concern today. Some people said the People’s Democratic Party installed Taiga as UPU PG. That is not true. It was the late Chief Johnson Modika Barovbe and Professor Peter Ekeh, the founder of Urhobo Historical Society, some traditional rulers and the late Justice Dugbo, among others, who mounted pressure on Taiga to contest UPU President General’s position. Barovbe and Ekeh were the arrowheads. Barovbe sold the candidature to Urhobo Social Club, Lagos (USCL), and it was unanimously agreed. I was the general secretary then and most of us all got directly involved. In fact, the USCL was like the engine room.
The USCL meeting, where the decision was made, had in attendance members of the PDP, APC and those who had no party affiliations. The member who hosted that meeting was not a PDP member or sympathiser, so PDP could not have sponsored Taiga. The election was held at the Cultural Centre, Uvwiamughe, and he was elected the UPU PG.
People talk about Olorogun Moses Taiga as if they are talking about one average man. Taiga never needed a financial sponsor to contest the election. He sponsored himself. Taiga is not your average man. He has three personal homes in London, Lagos and Okpare with a complement of domestic staff. When he came to see me in London after I was discharged from hospital, he came in his chauffeur-driven Range Rover. Ask Urhobo people who live in London how many Urhobos have drivers and domestic staff there.
You can visit Taiga at home and the Obi of Onitsha, Aliko Dangote, Donald Duke, Goodie Ibru, Bismarck Rewane and other eminent Nigerians will just walk in to see him. While with him, the Oba of Benin can call him; he can also get a call from Aso Rock. If you cannot appreciate great Urhobo men, don’t pull them down. During my father-in-law’s burial, one of the Urhobo financial heavyweights honoured my invitation. I was taking him to where other illustrious sons of Urhobo were sitting. Once he noticed the people in that section were in wrapper, he declined and went to sit in one corner. Some illustrious sons of Urhobo are scared of coming out because they do not want to be unnecessarily dragged or vilified. If that is what we want, no problem, but know that the consequences are grievous.
Another allegation, a hackneyed one, is that Taiga conferred the traditional title of “Ochuko r’Urhobo” on Okowa. This was trashed out in the past. I do not know why people are rehashing it. In Urhobo land, only kings give out chieftaincy titles. Taiga has never been Ohworode of Olomu, so how could he have given Okowa a chieftaincy title. The photos are still there; show me where Taiga put aghighon (beads) on Okowa’s neck; or do traditional rulers now give chieftaincy titles without aghighon? I did tell Olorogun Taiga then that his traducers would come after him and that has been it till date.
Two separate issues made Taiga to call Okowa ochuko r’Urhobo. One, the release of money for work on the UPU Cultural Centre, Uvwiamughe. Yes, it was our entitlement as an oil producing ethnic group, but in Urhobo land, when someone comes back from his own farm, we say, “dooo.” It’s just courtesy. We are not obliged to.
Some allege that Taiga misused (they don’t have the courage to say he misappropriated) the money from the state government. I know that the first phase and part second phase of the renovation of the Urhobo Cultural Centre at Uvwiamuge-Agbarho was done from the fund. These included perimeter fencing, roof reconstruction, interior upgrades, and tiling. The current executive is supposed to take it from there. The Urhobo House in Warri was also given a facelift.
Those who wish to probe should find out from the then UPU financial secretary and treasurer the details of how the money was utilised and they should make the details public. Olorogun Taiga inherited the bank account used during the time of Olorogun Felix Ibru. In line with his personal philosophy, he was never a signatory to the UPU account and never signed any cheque. The three signatories to the account are still very much alive. All those asking for investigation should go ahead to do so. Since Taiga never signed any cheque, they should ask where he gave approval for the alleged missing money as part of their investigation. But truth be told, Taiga spent over N50m of his personal money to run UPU and on UPU activities when he was PG. The records are there and his EXCO members know. Please also ask for the records.
Some people treat the Moses Taiga UPU Presidency as a ship that passed in the night: unnoticed and uneventful. You can’t crucify people for holding opinions that are different from yours in a free society, but these I know. Among the promises Taiga made at the start of his presidency were the renovation of Urhobo college. He helped to facilitate the renovation of Urhobo College. He also promised to facilitate the setting up of a microfinance bank to principally provide loans for Urhobo ewheya (women) and ighele (youths).
Let me throw more light on the Okugbe Microfinance so that people will stop peddling falsehood, not because I am obliged to. My only obligation is to subscribers who have been sources of encouragement for the executive to soldier on. The proposed bank is the brainchild of Olorogun Taiga while he was UPU PG. But he never participated in the day-to-day planning apart from attending meetings like other subscribers. In line with his philosophy, he was not at any time a signatory to the account, neither was he an interim director. He had earlier set up a committee that could not raise money because they used a wrong template. Prompted by Abraham Ogbodo, I told Olorogun Taiga that we could raise the money. He then set up a committee led by Abraham Ogbodo, my humble self as vice chairman and Dr. Benson Uwheru as secretary. The committee also had some other bright minds. Olorogun Taiga provided his personal N5m for feasibility study and other initial expenses when the committee started work; the same way he mobilised the first committee we replaced, although I don’t know the amount. Since the microfinance bank was his brainchild, we told him to set the ball rolling which he did with subscription worth N20m.
Contrary to expectations of many people, the committee surpassed the initial N300m target and raised N409m. Unfortunately, CBN did not give us the license. Subscribers know what happened. I don’t understand why Urhobos, who had the opportunity to subscribe but refused to, want to be informed of the details. Your money dey there? Though it is for the benefit of ewheya and ighele, it is a private enterprise. UPU’s 10 kobo is not there. The subscribers are committed sons and daughters of Urhobo extraction. After the CBN snub, subscribers unanimously decided that those who wanted their money back should apply for a refund and that has gone on smoothly. After some exited, the committee still has over N300m left and we are going ahead with the project. This project will come to fruition someday. Taiga does not need to be the UPU PG when that happens, but you cannot deny him his flowers.
He also started work on the establishment of an Urhobo-owned university to be named Mukoro Mowoe University. To achieve this, he set up committees twice and mobilised them with his personal funds. As at the time his tenure ended, there were at least four communities in Urhobo land that indicated interest in having the university sited on their land. The current UPU leadership should take it from there. Governance is a continuum; that is why Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is continuing and completing projects started by Okowa.
Another significant milestone during Taiga’s tenure was the approval by the Delta State Government and Federal Ministry of Education for an Urhobo Language Curriculum for Primary and Junior Secondary Schools, after a 10-year struggle in collaboration with the Urhobo Studies Association. This was the second reason he called Okowa ochuko r’Urhobo. Some people feel this feat is not commendable, yet they lament that Urhobo language is not being taught to Urhobo children in Warri South LGA schools. I don’t understand some of our people.
Taiga, Chief Goodie Ibru and Barovbe, used their personal funds and travelled to London to resolve the long-drawn dispute and division in the UPU UK branch. Before then, the dispute was so bad that children of members from either faction could not marry each other. New branches of UPU were also set up in Nigeria and abroad, including Malaysia, Turkey, Russia and Iyerekovia (Edo State) and existing branches were strengthened.
UPU under Taiga engaged both the Delta State and the Federal Government to promote and protect Urhobo interest, culminating in a visit to then President Muhammadu Buhari, where he presented a list of demands on behalf of the Urhobo Nation to Buhari. Let me quickly add that when we left Aso Rock, the only things I left there with were one Tomtom and one bitter kola! No member of the delegation left Aso Rock with a kobo.
The UPU under Taiga also intervened during crises in various parts of Urhobo land, notably Uwheru. In fact, concerned about the insecurity in Urhoboland, he made the late General Esio Obada, Chairman of the Security Committee, which included retired and serving security personnel of Urhobo origin, to meet regularly and come up with a blueprint for curtailing insecurity in Urhoboland, but Obada died before the execution of the master plan. However, the security committee played a role at one point in curtailing the excesses of the herdsmen in Agadama, Uwheru. The current UPU leadership should dust up the blueprint and implement it. There is still insecurity in Urhoboland.
Olorogun Taiga continues to intervene in communities in Urhobo land. Taiga was one of the illustrious Urhobos who sent a cow, foodstuff and N500,000 cash to the Okuama IDP camp. What exactly do some people want? If you like, see Olorogun Taiga as a foot mat or failure as UPU PG, but some of us are proud to be associated with a “failure” like Olorogun Moses Taiga.
On a final note, I have no relationship with the current UPU executive led by Chief Ese Gam Owe, but let me say this: why do we, Urhobos, enjoy blaming the tennis racket instead of the player? A UPU Congress was held where Urhobo delegates from the 24 kingdoms overwhelmingly voted them in. The chairman of the electoral committee, an illustrious Urhobo son and an APC chieftain, Chief Simeon Ohwofa, confirmed to me that the election was not rigged, though delegates were financially induced, according to those present. The question is, were guns put on the heads of the delegates to vote in this executive? What happened self-worth and odavwe r’Urhobo (Urhobo interest)? Only money matters? Let us continue chasing shadows instead of dealing with the substance. UPU is a cultural body and it is the responsibility of every Urhobo to make it remain so. Ordinarily, anybody contesting for a UPU position should have a track record of having the interest of the Urhobo Nation at heart, not people who are looking for elevation, validation and pecuniary gains.
