Omadino Community in Warri South local government area of Delta State has refuted what it described as “false and mischievous narratives” by Chief Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), Chief Godspower Gbenakama, and others from the Gbaramatu clan and Kantu community.
At a press briefing yesterday convened at the instance of Pa Godfrey Oruru Edemadiden, the Olaraja of Omadino, and the Omadino Federated Community, they said the purpose was to set the historical record straight and defend the integrity of the Itsekiri people of Omadino.
Chief Priest Roland Oti Yomere asserted that Omadino is an aboriginal Itsekiri community with a verifiable history that spans over seven centuries predating even the establishment of the Warri Kingdom.
According to him, the Omadino people’s ancestral territory spans parts of present-day Warri South, Warri North, and Warri South West LGAs, including settlements such as Okerenghigho, Kokodiagbene (Bakokodia), Kantu, Egwa, and others.
“Gbaramatu people, including Chief Tompolo, cannot tell our history for us,” Chief Yomere said. “The people of Omadino are descendants of Oba Nenuwa of Ode in the Ijebu Kingdom, and we remain proud Itsekiris under the Olu of Warri.”
A major focus of the press conference was the historical identity of Kantu community, which Chief Yomere emphasized is an Itsekiri community and not Ijaw as claimed by Tompolo and Gbenakama.
“There is no place known as Ikantu in Warri South West LGA. The territory called Kantu has always belonged to the children of Abiloro of Omadino,” he said, naming Edere, Minitsogun, and Erenbo as original settlers. He explained that Erenbo’s marriage to an Ijaw man, Oweizibiri, did not change the ethnic identity of Kantu.
Chief Yomere referenced the testimony of Gbabo, the then-president of the Gbaramatu clan in 1949, in Suit No. W/29/1949 (E.E. Sillo vs Adurumukumor), which listed eight Ijaw villages — a list that did not include Kantu.
“If Kantu were an Ijaw community as alleged, why was it burnt three times by the Gbaramatu Ijaws during the Warri crisis?” he queried, further accusing Tompolo of threatening Kantu residents with exclusion unless they publicly identified the community as Ijaw.
