Mosogar gets a new King, crowns HRM Sunday Odogun Okpurhe, Uduaka 1

After what seems to be a stormy transition, Mosogar Kingdom in Ethiope West Local Government Area, Delta State on Friday crowned His Royal Majesty  Sunday Odogun Okpurhe, Uduaka 1, as the new king following the successful burial rite of their departed king.

Okpurhe, a retired Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs and Exercise was on Saturday, June 18, 2022, formally declared the Ovie-Elect of Mosogar Kingdom at a meeting of the Ovie-In-Council led by the Otota of the Kingdom, Chief Ighoyota Amori, after the Uduaka ruling house and the selection committee presented their various reports which affirmed him as the winner.

Hundreds of indigenes of the kingdom both home and in the diaspora converged at the Oguedion Council of Chiefs and Elders’ Hall, where the “Okaorho” oldest man of the kingdom, Chief Samson Sunday Ogbakpah, performed the crowning of the new Ovie.

The crowning took place hours after the Delta State Executive Council on Thursday, August 4, 2022, gave the approval for the kingdom to perform the ceremony in line with the gazette establishing the kingdom.

With profound cheers and excitement after the crowning, a large crowd of the subjects of the new Ovie of Mosogar Kingdom escorted him on foot through a major road in the community that leads to his residence where a reception was held.

Among principal chiefs of the kingdom who were part of the crowning exercise were, Chief Ighoyota Amori, who is the Otota of Mosogar Kingdom, Chief Abel Ogbakpah (Unuevworo of Mosogar Kingdom), Chief Emmanuel Ogbakpah (Senior Inohwa of Uduaka), Chief Freeborn Nana (Senior Inohwa of Udurhie), Chief Akpeni Daniel Edafeghara, Chief Vincent Okporua, Chief Oghenedoro America, Chief Glory Efemini and Chief Ediga Oyibo.

Speaking to journalists at the reception ground, the new crowned Ovie of Mosogar Kingdom, Uduaka 1, said, “I am the happiest man on earth today and I give all the glory to God. The expectation is very, very high, the responsibility very heavy. Mosogar is an agrarian society, a developing place with a lot of challenges and I want to handle them head-on with the cooperation of my people.

“We have the issue of light. It is very paramount now and I am giving my people the assurance that we will do everything possible to restore the light. Secondly, another problem they have is not being able to go to the farm occasioned of the herdsmen that are disturbing them. We will work in collaboration with the government to put an end to it so that people can farm.

“Like said earlier, it is an agrarian society and if you cannot farm you cannot feed yourself. So, that is one of my priorities. What I expect from my people is cooperation and listening to me. Cooperation so that we can work together.

“If they cooperate with me it will make the place peaceful for development. When there is peace, there can be progress. When there is no peace, there is no progress.”

The elated Otota of Mosogar Kingdom, Chief Ighoyota Amori noted that with the successful crowning of the new Ovie, “History is not just being made, history ordained by God has been made today. You can see the atmosphere, you can see the joy in everybody and you can access the entire Mosogar Kingdom.

“I think today is one of our happiest days. The success story of today is something that one will say we give thanks to God for what God has done for this kingdom”.

On whether there are exist any discordant tone from some persons in the kingdom regarding the selection of the new king, Chief Amori said, “Kingship issues are always controversial and filled with a lot of intrigues but God has ordained the one of Mosogar. It has been seamless and highly successful from the beginning to till now.

“Today God has crowned all our effort with huge success by the crowning of our king. What we have done today is in keeping with our gazette. In all the stages from the burial of the late king through the transition till now, it has been seamless…