President General of the Okpe Union Worldwide, Prof Igho Natufe, has attacked Delta monarchs over the endorsement of Governor Sheriff Francis Oborevwori as the sole candidate of the Urhobo Nation for the 2027 governorship election, urging Okpe nationals to vote according to their conscience.
Natufe also criticised the participation of the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, HRM Orhue I, in the gathering of the Forum of Urhobo Traditional Rulers, Ukoko R’Ivie R’Urhobo, where the endorsement was made.
The forum had endorsed Oborevwori as the sole candidate of the Urhobo Nation and declared that no other Urhobo governorship aspirant would be received or given royal blessings by traditional rulers in Urhobo land.
But Natufe said the declaration was inconsistent with the forum’s claim that it was apolitical.
“If the Forum of Urhobo Traditional Rulers, Ukoko R’Ivie R’Urhobo, remained strictly apolitical, as claimed by HRM Dr. Monday Obukohwo Whiskey, Udurhie I, Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom and spokesman of the forum, their endorsement of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Oborevwori as the sole candidate of the Urhobo Nation for the 2027 governorship election and their subsequent decree that no other Urhobo governorship aspirant will be received or given royal blessings by traditional rulers in Urhobo land is an unashamed mockery of the concept of apolitical,” Natufe said.
He urged the traditional rulers to reverse the declaration, warning that their involvement in partisan politics could affect the standing of their traditional institutions.
“This declaration has brought grave disrepute to their respective thrones and dishonour to their HRM titles. Otherwise, they should be prepared to be treated as politicians with all the consequences attached to electioneering campaigns,” he said.
Natufe also faulted the Orodje’s participation in the gathering, alleging that it amounted to subsuming the Okpe ethnic identity under an Urhobo appellation.
According to him, this contradicted the monarch’s previous position that Okpe was a distinct ethnic nationality.
Natufe recalled a statement attributed to the Orodje during an engagement in North America in which the monarch said Okpe people had distinctive historical, cultural, traditional and linguistic roots.
