By Shedrack Onitsha,
A foremost Urhobo leader, Architect (Chief) Oghenovo Charles Majoroh, has called for a total rebirth of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), warning that unless urgent reforms are carried out, “the present is slipping away, and the future must not be lost.”
The former Deputy President-General of UPU made this passionate call during the 2nd edition of the Urhobo Leadership Series, organised by the Urhobo Consultative Forum via Zoom on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
In his keynote address titled “UPU Yesterday, Today and the Future – Challenges and Practical Solutions,” Majoroh described the UPU as “an organisation born out of the struggles of a proud people to resist suppression, assert their identity, and unite against marginalisation.”
Tracing the roots of the UPU to 1931, when it was founded as the Urhobo Brotherly Society, he said it emerged to counter unfair trade practices, loss of territory, cultural erosion, and political exclusion faced by Urhobo communities during the colonial era.
“The Urhobo man stands on a land flowing with milk and honey, yet lives in want,” Majoroh lamented, blaming political interference, leadership failures, and disunity for the decline of what he called the UPU’s “golden era.”
He recalled past icons such as Chief Mukoro Mowoe, Omorohwovo Okoro, and Dr. Frederick Esiri, whom he said “embodied patriotism and selfless leadership,” contrasting them with modern leaders “driven by ambition without apprenticeship.”
To restore credibility, Majoroh proposed dissolving current UPU structures and creating a 10-member interim committee drawn from respected Urhobo figures to “draft a new constitution and rebuild the Union within 12 months.”
He further advocated a “tripodal governance structure” anchored on traditional rulers, the political class, and the UPU as the socio-cultural arm — “a natural balance of triangles” akin to the Holy Trinity that ensures stability and mutual respect among Urhobo institutions.
“The kings must be shielded from the whims of politicians, and no arm must feel superior to the other,” he stressed, warning against external influence and “moneybags funding the continuous decline of the UPU.”
Majoroh also urged a return to values of discipline, humility, and cultural pride, insisting that Urhobo leadership must be “content, educated, fluent in the Urhobo language, and completely detached from partisan politics.”
He proposed a renaissance driven by cultural revival, youth engagement, community festivals, and the establishment of Urhobo-owned media platforms to “retell our story and inspire a new generation.”
Calling for the completion of the Uwiamuge Cultural Centre and the implementation of the Urhobo National Development Plan 2025, Majoroh emphasised that “the UPU must stop the internal haemorrhage through infighting and focus on political, economic, and social advancement.”
He cautioned that: “We have lost the immediate past, the present is slipping away — we must not lose the future. The task before us is to reclaim our identity, our pride, and our destiny as Urhobos.”
