Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has charged the paramount ruler of Rumueme Kingdom in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area to work to end the division among his subjects that has set the kingdom backwards.
The governor gave the advise at St. John’s Anglican Church, Rumueme Deanery, where a Special Thanksgiving Service was held to celebrate the elevation of the Traditional Stool occupied by His Royal Majesty Nyeweli Omunakwe Nyeche Nsirim the Apiti of Rumueme on Sunday.
Wike said it was time to repair the stagnation the kingdom had suffered while the tussle over who should be accorded the status of a paramount ruler of Rumueme subsisted.
According to Wike, it is time for the Apiti of Rumueme to look beyond the offenses of the past, and reconcile all the fractions by bringing everybody to work together as a united people.
“I know how much you have fought for the elevation of the stool of Rumueme Kingdom. If it was by your power, you would have gotten it long ago, even as at the time NPN was in power. But you didn’t get it (the elevation).
“There is only one thing I want to stand here before my Lord Bishop, and the congregation to plead. I want His Majesty to use this opportunity that God has given to him to bring everybody together in his kingdom.
“What has set Rumueme backwards is division. But now, we have known who is the paramount ruler of Rumueme Kingdom. I want to plead with you to forgive everybody.”
Governor Wike wondered why anybody would have thought that he will serve out his tenure as governor of the state, without recognising and elevating the traditional stool of the Apiti of Rumueme Kingdom.
The Governor said the eventual elevation that has come at the right time was conscientiously planned not to trigger crisis.
He described as shameful those who criticised the delay in elevation of the traditional stool without good understanding of the prevailing traditional dynamics.
Governor Wike also noted the sustained pressure mounted on him by those requesting that he should honour the kingdom.
“So many members of his council of chiefs, sometimes, when they see me, they will begin to murmur, and frown their faces. But you cannot force me to do what I don’t want to do at that material time. I will do what I will do in God’s own time.
“I will do it when everybody will be happy. And it was done when everybody was happy. If I did it at the time when people were pushing, probably there would have been crisis.
“I made sure that by the time we did it, nobody will raise eyebrow. Nobody will go to court. This is the first time it has happened in this kingdom without anybody going to court.”
In his sermon, the Bishop of Niger Delta North in the Anglican Province of Niger Delta, Rt. Rev. Wisdom Budu Ihunwo exhorted the congregation to always seek the mercy of God continually for themselves and the country.
According to him, no person truly enjoys forgiveness in place of punishment, healing and breakthroughs that secure prosperous living, without the mercy of God.
Bishop Ihunwo asserted that Nigeria is at a critical point in its history where God’s mercy alone can offer the needed salvage from the myriad of problems it faces.
The Bishop particularly acknowledged the mercy of long life the celebrant, HRM Omunakwe Nsirim has enjoyed from God and the elevation of his traditional stool to first class.
“If there’s anything that we need more now in Nigeria, it is the mercy of God. The world is deteriorating and evil is metamorphosing. It is been digitalised. May God show us mercy.”
