By Sam Eyoboka and Gladys Abugoh, Warri

EMINENT sons and daughters of Itsekiri nation under the auspices of Iwere Kingdom last Sunday gathered at the Olu Palace for an annual thanksgiving service.
The 26th annual Iwere thanksgiving service which took place at the Erejuwa Church Hall inside the Olu Palace has His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwase II, the Olu of Warri and the current president of the Fellowship of Christian Traditional Rulers of Nigeria, FECTRON, in attendance with his family.

It also attracted several heavyweights including the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and his wife, his deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama and his wife, the three senators representing the state as well as several members of the House of Representatives.
The crowd of worshippers also included other governmental personalities as well as eminent Christian clerics including the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the national presbyter of Church of God Mission, Warri, Rev. Eruebi Itse Lucky who preached the only sermon of the day.

While extolling the virtues of thanksgiving, Eruebi noted that for thsnksgiving to be meaningful we must present ourselves as leaving sacrifice, urging the rich to always help the poor and needy in the society because “the people are praying for you and it therefore imperative to give them the dividends of democracy.”
They sang, danced and rejoiced while thanking the Almighty God for being merciful to the Iwere Kingdom.
In an interview, the chaplain of Warri Kingdom, Dr. Mark Erumi explained the essence of the annual thanksgiving service, saying that it is something the current Olu, (Atuwase II) instituted in recognition of the role of God in his life.

According to him, the Olu said God is always doing good things for us, “it is only wise for us to come before Him on the last Sunday of every year to give thanks so that as a people we can have our focus on Him because without Him we cannot go forward. That’s the essence.”

Asked what the Olu’s message is to members of the kingdom, the Iwere nation, for this year for them, the chaplain said: “His message for them this year; if you follow things that happened some months ago around here, many people thought they could overthrow the prominence of God in the kingdom and they did a lot of things to give the impression that we are a heathen nation, and the Olu disagreed. Before he was crowned he had told them that he would lead this kingdom to God because he is a Christian and that’s what he has done. So what has happened now is that this year particularly is to tell people again that we are serving the living God, Him and Him alone,” he explained.

What of the event of the immediate past?
“That was an introduction into a desire to serve God, so this one is to counteract it and to announce to the world again that we are not selfish, we love God, the creator of the earth and we want to follow Him and serve Him,” Dr. Erumi said.

Has the Olu forgiven his detractors, he said: “Of course. As you can see, this place was overflowing with people, even outside. The capacity here and outside shows that the Itsekiri people are really standing behind him. What happened was just a group of small miscreants who thought they could gain some political advantage but they failed.

“Those who live around here are here, but some who live far couldn’t come. Our people say your tongue and your set of teeth may quarrel even though they live in the same mouth, but when they have quarreled, they want to find a way to reconcile so that they can live in that house peacefully. I think that is what has happened. There was a time there was quarrel, but today, many of those who spare headed what happened before, many of them came here today to give thanks to God. God has been good to us,” he stated.