The lingering tussle between the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III and Chief Ayiri Emami, a business mogul and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, has taken on a violent dimension.
The feud, which began when the monarch was crowned and Emami was removed as the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom, has divided the kingdom, especially in Okere community, Warri South local government area.
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Last Saturday, an attempt by the monarch to visit Okere community, believed to be the support base of Emami, was resisted by the youths, culminating in two persons feared dead as a result of shootings by soldiers drafted from the 3 Battalion, Nigerian Army, Effurun, Delta State.
Sources said a section of youths in the Okere community had resisted the monarch from performing a traditional rite and desecrating the shrine by pouring anointing oil as libation on the ancient grove harbouring an ancestral shrine.
Besides the two victims, identified as Macaulay Uku and Daniel Grey, several others injured during the shooting were said to be loyalists of Chief Emami.
While a source claimed the deceased died from injuries they sustained during the shootout with the soldiers, another source said that they were shot at close range.
“Some youths had stopped the monarch from entering the community to perform the rite, prompting the deployment of soldiers to the area. Their main grouse was that the monarch was planning to pour anointing oil on the shrine against the established customary rite that the people were used to,” he said.
Meanwhile, a palace chief who does not want to be mentioned stated that “the monarch has the authority over lands and waters in Warri, and as such, his movement cannot be resisted in his kingdom.
“The truth is that those youths from the Okere community are those loyal to Chief Emami and opposed to the monarch.”
However, the commanding officer of the Barrack, Major A. Ohegbe, confirmed the heavy presence of security personnel during the visit of the Olu of Warri to the community on Saturday.
He told journalists that he was not aware of any shooting, saying the presence of soldiers was orchestrated by the resistance to the monarch’s visit by a section of the people of the Okere community.