Prince Yemi Emiko, one of the masterminds of the suspension of Chief Ayiri Emami as Ologbotsere of Warri and Chairman of the Olu Advisory Council, has admitted that they acted in error.
He admitted that the Council of Chiefs did not follow the law strictly as they ought to have done during the election process of the current Olu of Warri.
Recalled that about two years ago, Emami was suspended for insisting that the law must be respected in the selection of Olu of Warri.
He also maintained that the selection of Prince Emiko as Omoba following the passage of Ogiame Ikenwoli ran foul of the process of the enthronement of a new Olu.
To this end, Emami was suspended as the Ologbotsere following the crisis that trailed the selection of the sitting Olu of Warri, Tsola Emiko as Olu designate.
As part of the troubleshooting effort, the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in April 2022 initiated a reconciliatory move for all the aggrieved parties.
However, the move hit the rocks as the Olu of Warri, His Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III, installed Chief Oma Eyewuoma as the new Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom.
Before his installation, Eyewuoma was the Aboludero of Warri Kingdom.
But reacting to the recent outburst by an elder in Warri Kingdom, Chief Mene Brown, in an interview that the Princes have no say in running affairs at the Olu’s palace and the Itsekiri Kingdom, Emiko said elders should not spew what will further tear the kingdom apart.
He stressed that the statement credited to Brown that the Princes of the Kingdom have no say in the operation of the Olu’s palace invariably means that the suspension of Emami was null and void in the eyes of the law.
“In 2021, I, Yemi Emiko I took the lead in the activities that suspended Ayiri Emami from being Ologbotsere, we appointed Iyatsere as acting Chairman Council of Chiefs. That singular action paved the way for the current Olu to mount the throne. If Mene Brown is saying I, as a Prince or princes in Warri Kingdom don’t have a say, then automatically, he is saying that everything we did at that time is illegal,” Emiko said.
While describing the last April removal of Emami as Ologbotsere and the installation of a new holder of the title as unfortunate, Emiko noted that Emami committed no crime as he was trying to protect the laws guiding the installation of Olu of Warri.
He stated categorically that Emami did not commit any crime against anyone or against the kingdom by insisting that things be done according to the law.
Emiko added: “It isn’t that Ayiri committed any crime, No! Ayiri, I will say this a million times that Ayiri did not commit any crime against anybody in this land. All Ayiri did was stand by the law.
“Ayiri is not the one who wrote the law, but if you look, Ologbotsere is the one written all over the place as the owner of the process.
“He came to say the way I know these things is like this, but we did some things because we saw that this guy was popular among the youths. And I called some of the elders that this is our own #EndSARS protest, they want this guy, let’s try and find a way to put him on the throne after which we can then sit down to amend the law. But they got there and threw everybody away. I’m yet to see what the crime is all about,” he added.
Asked if the action against Emami was illegal, Emiko refrained from speaking in the affirmative as he noted that the action was already being challenged in court.
He said: “As you know the matter is already in court, we took certain actions and I am not sitting here to tell you that every action we took at the time was 100 percent correct or legal because we have a law that regulates, that governs succession processes in Warri Kingdom and the law is very clear.
“We took certain steps, certain actions in the hope that when the Olu emerges, Itsekiri will sit down and look at those provisions of that law and see how best we can tinker with it to be in compliance.”
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