The people of Furupagha Ijaw Community, in Odigbo Local Council Area of Ondo State, have kicked against the agreement allegedly reached between Ebijaw and Taribor communities within the council for the rotation of a single chieftaincy stool of Ibeodiowe of Ebijaw.
While rejecting the move, leaders of the community, the Opu-Idushu of Furupagha-Ijaw/lbe-Okosuwei, leader of Furupagha-Ijaw (Ebijaw Ward), Odigbo Local Council, Emmanuel Odushu, led a peaceful protest to the governor’s office in Akure, the state capital, to register their displeasure.
According to them, the Furupagha Ijaw rejected attempts to divide their land. Odushu said: “Furupagha Traditional Council wishes to dissociate the Furupagha people from the said agreement, which, for all intents and purposes, is designed to balkanise their land and share it with trespassers from Edo and Delta states.
“We, the people of Furupagha-ljaw, constituted as the Ebijaw Ward of Odigbo Local Council of Ondo State and represented by the traditional council, elders and youths organisations hereby express our total rejection of a proposed agreement between Ebijaw and Taribor for the rotation of a single chieftaincy stool of Ibeodiowe.”
According to him, there are three tribes of the Ijaw ethnic nationality in Ondo State, namely, the Apoi, Arogbo both in Ese-Odo Local Council, and Furupagha-Ijaw, in Odigbo Local Council. Each of them has its own defined territory and chieftaincies in line with their respective customary laws.
