By Bulou Kosin
Father of comedian Realwarripikin, Prince Collins Eselemo, has demanded apology from Wado City Initiative for threatening, blackmailing and stampeding his daughter to cancel her scheduled show at Monarchy Event Centre, Effurun, leading to loss of billions in commitment and expected returns.
At a press briefing in Warri, Wednesday, Eselemo, scion of the renowned Eselemo dynasty, also tasked the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, to rein in WADO City group from their gestapo campaigns before things get out of hand.
Reports in social media indicate that people are already pulling down billboards of other organisations in the environs outside Uvwie LGA, sparking concerns of imminent breakdown of law and order.
“You wrote a letter to Realwarripikin concerning the location of her show. It is expected you wait for a response rather than this stampede and blackmail”, adding: “I want to call out Dr Ejiro Imuere for his narratives suggesting Itsekiri sponsorship of Realwarripikin on the venue name dispute.
Eselemo said he will “investigate the so-called bye-law,” referred to by the lawyer who wrote the WADO group letter to Monarchy Event Centre, to ascertain whether the law which does not respect peace and blood in enforcement had a public hearing preceding its enactment.
“Anita Alaere Eselemo now Mrs. Asuoha, popularly known as Realwarripikin, is my daughter, who I saw through school and gave out in marriage. She is a Princess from Akugbene-Mein and Ogbolubiri-Mein Kingdoms, a 4th generation celebrity of the Eselemo Dynasty, and is more Efurrun/Uvwie than the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, who called to express shock at the knowledge that she is my daughter. He is concerned for resolution of the matter which he thinks might scare away investors from the state. Let me state here that Effurun was founded by an Ijaw man, Ongulu, from Tuomo in Burutu LGA. Ongulu is from Foukunou quarters in Tuomo town,” Eselemo said.
“The Uvwie/Effurun people did not reject my daughter when she recently displayed remarkable kindness right inside Effurun market, buying and eating banga rice and relating with the market women, some of whom she empowered with financial support for their businesses”, Eselemo recalled, lamenting: “This treatment is an unkind cut on my daughter over her proposed show by Uvwie/Urhobo people she long took as her own”.
Speaking in Ijaw language in a tone laden with emotions, Eselemo said: “I hereby tender an unreserved apology to the Ijaw nation worldwide on behalf of myself and my daughter, Realwarripikin, over her heavy inclination to Urhobo nation in her outings. Please forgive me, forgive her and accept her as the true Ijaw daughter that she is”.
The Ijaw Leader, Eselemo, advised that the so-called Wado Community Initiative should, rather than threats and intimidation, deploy tactics that encourage peace and unity like Essi who called one of the sports houses “Erejuwa” in Essi College, Warri, to give the Itsekiri a sense of belonging. Eselemo fears that the gestapo approach by the Wado City group can only sustain the the subsisting impression of “Urhobo wayo” long held by the people.
Eselemo said the Wado City idea has a suspicious intent as the claimed Warri generic name it is fighting, insisting that the word “Wado” is similar to Ado and Ando of the Ijaw and Itsekiri respectively and can be contested by the other ethnic groups. The Ijaw leader argued that there was need to deregister the Wado Community Initiative group, if already registered, if its intent was to instigate crisis as it is reportedly doing rather than peace for development.
The RealWarriPikin father said Monarchy Event Centre is situated in a community that still divides traditional and political loyalty to Udu and Uvwie LGAs respectively which indicates that their allegedly forced inclusion into Uvwie by former military administrator, Col. Dungs is yet to sit well with the people.
A check on Realwarripikin suggests that her belief that the Wado Community advocates want to pull her down is premised on the fact that comedians had recently performed in Ekpan/Uvwie and declaring same as Warri with the Wado advocates looking the other way.
