The controversy surrounding the rights to the throne of the Ubulu-Uku kingdom in Delta State, has taken a new dimension with revelations coming from a royal daughter of the kingdom and a lawmaker at the state House of Assembly, Evangelist Joan Onyemaechi Mrakpor.She sets the record straight but not without expressing her reservations over the distortions and false claims peddled by the opposition on the emergence of Obi Akaeze, Ofulue III, as the Obi Ubulu-Uku town.Mrakpor, a member of the state's House of Assembly, representing Aniocha South, in Asaba, the state capital said since Obi Akaeze was enthroned and empowered with a Staff of Office by Chief James Ibori, former Governor of the state, five years ago, his ascension has not been in contention.While she wondered why those she described as 'unscrupulous elements' are cooking up falsehood to subvert the traditional requirements of Ubulu kingship custom, she challenged them to seek redress in court, if they are armed with facts and figures.She remarked that three attempts has been made to dethrone the King out of selfish and baseless claims. Her words : 'There has been three attempts to dethrone Obi Akaeze, Ofulue III, the Obi of Ubulu-Uku. If for whatever reason he, as a Chief in the community, has facts that the king he earlier singed in and is acceptable to the people should no longer be there, one would have thought the right thing to do is to go to court. But because he has no right whatever to talk about kingship matter, he chose to smear the good names of the Umuozim that has the legal right to dethrone the king and people who can ask questions to perpetrate the atrocities. Thank God the Umuezim have cleared the air by saying they have nothing against the qualification of the incumbent king. On her capacity to shed light or discuss the issue, She said, 'I will speak to you from two angles. First as one that was born into the royal family of Ubulu-Uku kingdom and secondly, as the lawmaker, representing Aniocha South constituency at the Delta State House of Assembly. As one born into the royal family in Ubulu land, I want to state here clearly that there has never been kingship tussle in the land of Ubulu-Uku.'While she decried as 'embarrassing' the newspaper reports where the kingship tussle was 'white-washed and painted in coat of many colours', the royal daughter said the people of the kingdom have been left in total bewilderment at the new twist the tussle recently assumed.According to her, 'Before the father of the present king of Ubulu-Uku, in Aniocha South Local Government Area, Obi Ofulue II, went to the United Kingdom (UK), he had a son through a woman he did not marry traditionally. While he was still in UK, he had a white woman girlfriend who gave birth to children, including the controversial Edward, known as the White-man. In Nigeria here, a woman from Ogwashi-Uku, known to all us in Ubulu-Uku as Aliam, was prepared traditionally as a queen and sent to meet him in the UK. The Ogwashi-Uku woman later gave birth to the incumbent king of Ubulu land. In the history of Ubulu-Uku known to all of us, Queen Aliam Ofulue, was the mother of Obi Akaeze because she was groomed as a queen in Nigeria to meet Obi Ofulue II, in the United Kingdom.'So, when son-ship is being talked about at all', she maintained, ' Prince Edward (the white son) is not even the first son of Obi Ofulue II because the king had a son in Nigeria here before traveling to UK where he befriended the white-woman. Hence, the community is wondering what those fueling the embers of discord within the royal family stand to gain. A letter sending Queen Aliam, accompanied by royalty, as dictated by our tradition, by Obi Ofulue I, who is the father of Obi Ofulue II, to UK to meet her husband is still documented today. It was there (UK) that Queen Aliam gave birth to her children ' Princess Obiangeli (first daughter), then the second being the incumbent king, Obi Akaeze, Ofulue III. Aka-eze, means the King's hand.'She accused a chief in the kingdom (names withheld) of fanning embers of discord within the royal family, even as she exonerated herself from the purported crisis that greeted the Iwu festival of October 1, this year.She said when Chief's scheming to use the Umuozim (children of royalty, a group she is a daughter of) to unseat the incumbent king, he started witch-hunting the king with his elder brother whose mother married according to the custom and tradition of the kingdom.'The Umuezim are the children of royalty, starting from the children of the first king of Ubulu-Uku, for every ruling family, brother, sister and daughter, who I am one, comprised the Umuezim. To me, a daughter of Umuozim, Obi Akaeze has been enthroned and given staff of office. When the Umuozim visited me to congratulate me on my re-election, the only complaint they told me about bothered on the death father of Obi Akaeze. They said Obi Ofulue II, i.e. Obi Akaeze's father, had problems with them and they fined him, which he did not pay until his death. They expected his son, Obi Akaeze, before assuming the throne to come to them and pay the fine but he did not. So, nothing was said during their speech that day and in the report they presented to me, not an alphabet stated therein that Obi Akaeze, Ofulue III, was not qualified to be the Obi of Ubulu-Uku. All they said and documented to me that day was that they have issues with his father, Obi Ofulue II, which Obi Akaeze needed to sort out before assuming the throne. The Diokpa that led the Umuozim said Obi Akaeze should still come and apologise on behalf of his father.'I was very happy when Prince Edward Ofulue (the white son) told the police that it was the Chief who came to London to invite him under the pretense that his father who has been buried in 2006 is still there, that the community is waiting for him to come and bury him as crowned Prince', Mrakpor narrated.She said the Chief has made several attempts to dethrone the king but failed wondered why he chose to smear the good names of the Umuozim, the king and the kingdom at large effortlessly.She said: 'Those who feel aggrieved should seek redress in court. The rightful king that has been given Staff of Office should be given peace. He should be allowed to perform his traditional role as the custodian of Ubulu-Uku culture and tradition, until such a time his adversary is able to proof to the court that he is not the rightful king.'Her words: 'Somebody will just stand up, go straight into the palace with thugs while the sitting king is still alive, desecrate it, sprinkle concoction around it, all in the name of Oh! the king is a born again Christian (a Deeper Life pastor), claiming that he has neglected the custom of the people, telling the people that they were there to cleanse the palace of infirmities and worship and appease the gods of the land. How much than this can the man (the king) be provoked' What I want to say here is that the persons masterminding the crisis should be called to order. There is an extent to which you can provoke the community, there is an extent to which you can tell a man you cannot do anything and that man arise one day to say let me fight for myself. Then, whatever changes he needs to make will be made.
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