Renowned elder statesman cum leader of the largest ethnic group in Delta State, Benjamin Ukumagba, has joined his ancestors at the age of 83 years.Okumagba, who occupied the traditional stool of the 'orosuen of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom' as Okumagba I, was between 1999 and 2008, the President-General of the influential Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) in Nigeria and the Diaspora.The 'Otota' (the traditional Prime Minister) of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom, Warri, Chief Wilson Eboh, formally announced the transition of the Okumagba at a press conference held at the palace of the traditional ruler of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom in Warri on Tuesday.Elderly senior traditional chiefs, women and youths, who witnessed the official announcement of the demise of their royal father, wept openly as the news was broken to the whole world via a statement delivered by Chief Eboh. The solemn occasion was punctuated by several 21-gun salute and heart-rending dirges rendered in Urhobo language by the regally adorned members of the council of chiefs of the Okere-Urhobo Kingdom, some children of deceased monarch and numerous subjects who were present at the press briefing.The royal stool of the monarch was Tuesday, symbolically draped with black cloth as a sign of mourning in the kingdom.The traditional prime minister of the Okere Urhobo Kingdom, who also announced the commencement of the late monarch's three-month 'rites of passage', likened the departure of their king to the falling of a great Iroko tree of the tropical African forest.He described Okumagba as a genuine patriot, a general and nationalist who loved the people, culture as well as education, peace and development of his fatherland beginning with the 22 Urhobo kingdoms.Eboh said: 'Today is an important day in the history of the entire people of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom, Warri. A great Iroko Tree has traveled. A powerful man, a patriotic man, a traditionalist and lover of culture; a man of justice and equity; a man who fought a just cause for the survival of his people; a general in his own right, a lover of peace, and Urhobo nationalist and Leader par excellence, is gone.'He further described the deceased as 'man who in the last 50 years has touched the lives of many within Urhobo Nation, Delta State, Nigeria and beyond', and disclosed that over 75 persons, including his children, workers and indigent community people attained university and higher education through the benevolence and sponsorship of the late Okumagba. A recipient of the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), Okumagba was known for his bravery and fearless confrontation of anybody whose action or activities he regarded as detrimental to the overall interest of the people of Urhobo ethnic extraction.The 17th child in a line of 23 children of his parents that also hailed from royal families in Warri and Ughelli, Okumagba was also a businessman and proprietor of a chain of businesses that include the Idama Hotel in Oumagba Layout, Warri.Okumagba's rites of passage are expected to end by June this year, during which period a worthy successor to the deceased paramount ruler of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom would have been selected and installed, Eboh further said.HRM Benjamin Okumagba was born on 20 October, 1928 in Warri and ascended the throne as Urhobo monarch in Warri on Friday, 22 February, 2008.
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