The Delta State Government has crossed the line from administrative oversight into barefaced meddling, and the people of Ubulu-Uku reject its recent pronouncement in the strongest possible terms. Chief Asika Onwordi and the State Government cannot, unilaterally and without listening to the people of Ubulu-Uku, pontificate on Ubulu-Uku mores, traditions and customs.
Therefore, the letter from the Directorate of Chieftaincy Affairs, Office of the Deputy Governor, dated 2nd November, 2026, with Reference No. CH. 202/VOL II/507, cannot be accepted as clarification of Ubulu-Uku tradition. It is an unwarranted interference in our customs, our hierarchy and our heritage.
Let it be stated plainly: the Delta State Government should not allow itself to be drawn into Ubulu-Uku affairs as a meddlesome interloper. A government registry, a chieftaincy certificate or a letter signed by a permanent secretary cannot manufacture, amend or distort the traditional titles of Onishe Ubulu and Onishe Ezemu in Ubulu-Uku Kingdom. Chieftaincy is rooted in custom, lineage, installation rites and the authority of the Obi of Ubulu-Uku. It is not a bureaucratic favour to be doled out by Asaba.
The Obi of Ubulu-Uku has spoken and clarified unequivocally: Chief Asika James Onwordi was installed as Onishe Ezemu, not Onishe Ubulu. That distinction is fundamental. The Delta State Government cannot wave it away by administrative fiat. Photographs and videos do not lie, and the internet records are there for all to see. If the government or Chief Asika claims otherwise, let them produce the evidence: the installation rites, the lineage entitlement and the clear approval of the Obi of Ubulu-Uku. Until such evidence is produced, the government’s letter remains an empty, legally impotent and traditionally worthless pronouncement.
The Delta State Government should restrain itself from endorsing the wild ambitions of a delusional upstart seeking to smuggle personal ambition into a government register. Government recognition and administrative registration must never become instruments for overriding the established traditional hierarchy and authority of Ubulu-Uku Kingdom. The Directorate of Chieftaincy Affairs lacks the competence to interpret Ubulu-Uku custom, and it must not allow itself to be used by political buccaneers and vested interests to destabilise a peaceful community.
We therefore warn the Delta State Government to exercise restraint, respect the authority of the Obi of Ubulu-Uku, withdraw its misleading pronouncement, and refrain from any attempt to proclaim the Onishe Ezemu title and the Onishe of Ubulu-Uku title as one and the same. To every true son and daughter of Ubulu-Uku, such an act is completely laughable and puts the government in a ridiculous light.
The security agencies copied in that letter should not be dragged into a traditional dispute that only the Obi of Ubulu-Uku and the people of Ubulu-Uku are competent to resolve.
Ubulu-Uku people shall never regard the Delta State Government’s utterly questionable pronouncements concerning our cultural heritage as binding or authoritative. We are not asking for permission to preserve our heritage; we are telling the government to keep off. The government should be an instrument of peace, not a source of division. We are asking the government to desist from any act or pronouncement capable of galvanising Ubulu-Uku people into united and resolute resistance.
The Obi has spoken. Ubulu-Uku has spoken. Asika is Onishe Ezemu, not Onishe Ubulu. The Delta State Government must respect our custom or bear responsibility for the consequences of its meddling. We respect the government of Delta State and have no wish to confront it. We ask only for reciprocal respect: that decisions concerning our customs be made with the input of the Obi and the people of Ubulu-Uku, and that the government refrain from lending its authority to any claimant whom our tradition does not so recognise. We simply decline to be disrespected by a process that excluded us and ended in favour of the wrong claimant.
Oskar Nwaudah (PhD) is a public affairs analyst