By Our Correspondent
Smarting from the successful completion of the mandatory traditional mourning period in honour of its late traditional ruler Asagba Prof. Chike Edozien, the Asaba Community is set to enthrone a new monarch, the 14th Asagba of Asaba.
A necessary first step towards the enthronement of a new Asagba of Asaba took place yesterday in Isieke village of Asaba as the Diokpa Isieke, Ogbueshi Olisamedua Uwaechia, welcomed to much acclaim by an appreciative crowd, a seasoned petroleum engineer and philanthropist Ogbueshi Anthony Ogugua Konwea as the community’s choice for the vacant throne of Asagba of Asaba.
Our findings reveal that for now, the two front-runners for the Asagbaship are the duo of Ogbueshi Anthony Konwea and Prof. Epiphany Azinge, SAN.
Azinge, a former Director General of Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, is currently the Okililo of Asaba.
The odds, however, seem to favour Konwea, who is currently swimming in adulation and acceptance from majority of the people of Asaba.
Sources disclosed that the more visible Azinge, a legal luminary, who is the current President General of Asaba people both at home and in diaspora, is inhibited by the age long pattern of rotation of the kingship in Asaba.
It was further gathered that with the passing of Prof. Edozien who was from Umuezei, the revered stool of Asagba of Asaba mandatorily moves to Ugbomanta in line with the traditional genealogical norm and rotational principle that requires the Asagba stool to rotate among the representatives of the original five sons of Nnebisi (the progenitor of Asaba) known as the Ebos.
Both Konwea and Azinge are from Ugbomanta but while Azinge is from Umudaike, Konwea is from Isieke. Azinge’s Umudaike is said to have had its turn of producing an Asagba making it equitable for Konwea’s Isieke to now produce the next Asagba.
Konwea’s position is further enhanced by the fact that he is the Diokpa of his direct family. This conforms with the settled traditional protocol that ensured that all the 13 previous Asagba’s had no older surviving biological male siblings.
Konwea’s kindred, the noble Umuonisha family, through the declaration of its leader Diokpa Olisamedua Uwaechia, was first to present him to Ugbomanta and later to the entire Asaba as its legitimate nominee for the Asagba throne.
While presenting Konwea to the people Diokpa Uwaechia, a University of London trained Nuclear Physicist, declared that “the rotational Kingship stool of Asaba has ensured that the revered stool of the Asagba is relinquished by Umuezei to Ugbomanta after the passing of Asagbs (Prof.) Chike Edozien. Our unique inheritance of equity and inclusiveness is the yield of Ogbueshi Konwea’s nomination by Isieke as the next Asagba of Asaba”.
In accepting his nomination by Isieke, Konwea pledged to serve the people selflessly and to defend the tradition and culture of Asaba. He also committed to enthroning an era of peace, development and deepening of the shared brotherhood of every inhabitant of Asaba
As the capital of the present day Delta State, Asaba is pivotal to the growth and development of the entire oil rich state. The primacy of the Asagba stool is such that any new occupant should ensure that the throne of Asagba receives a socio-political redefinition and facelift. He should also promote and ensure that Asaba cultural heritage attains a global standard and ensure that our socio-cultural heritage can offer meaningful IGR for sustainability.
If he eventually emerges as the next Asagba, Konwea will be expected to use his expertise and knowledge in the petroleum sector to put Asaba amongst the oil and gas producing community. He will have to collaborate with the Upstream Monitoring and Regulatory Agency to exercise an aspect of its regulation to establish an administrative office in Asaba, and partner with the Delta State House of Assembly to enact a law granting Asaba indigenes the right of catchment area status. He will be expected to always liaise with the State government to restore the official role of the Omu Ahaba as the administrative head of the markets in Asaba township, and to work with Asagba –in- Council to curb youth restiveness as well as preserve the cultural heritage of Ndi Ahaba.
Konwea’s working career spanned over 35 years in both the NNPC and Department of Petroleum Resources. He is a seasoned administrator and leader. While in service, Konwea, who holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Resources Management, undertook various career enhancement and professional trainings in Nigeria and abroad.
Konwea’s Isieke village is one of the villages in Ugbomanta Quarters, Asaba. The last time the Asagba stool came to Ugbomanta, Isieke conceded the stool to Umudaike village on the basis of seniority. Umudaike took its right as the eldest in the Ugboma clan and presented Asagba (Obi) Ijeh in 1937. It is in compliance with the principles of equity that Isieke village is to present the next Asagba, our sources say.
The Asagba is the traditional leader and custodian of the cultural heritage of the Asaba people.
He functions as the main representative and advocate for his people in dealings with both federal, state and local governments, ensuring that the interests and needs of Asaba people are addressed at the highest levels of governance.
More importantly, he embodies the spiritual and ancestral linage of the community, serving as a vital link between them and acting as both the political intermediary and spiritual guide in maintaining the cultural identity of Asaba people.
