March 10, 2010
The noose of custom and tradition is tightening slowly but surely around the neck of Dr Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru, a former Petroleum and Energy Minister under the Obasanjo presidency, and interim Amanyanabo of Nembe. The paramount ruler is reported to have entered a personal confession with regard to extraordinary measures he took to get his nephew, Chief Timipre Sylva-Sam, into office as Governor of Bayelsa State.
Speakers of the Nembe language, which is believed to be one of the oldest in Africa, contend that Dr Daukoru may well have pleaded guilty to an ancient crime when he wrote as follows: “Bei togu bei eki mi opu firi mi gho tuwanyo yomi gomote, eri iyorobo igiri beli. Ei, Nembe temesou mi eki ibogomo…”
The confession is said to have been scribbled into an abandoned copy of Daukoru’s investiture programme as a Fellow of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, dated Wednesday May 9, 2007. What has become increasingly clear about the English translation, for reasons of decent rendering, is that the general overseer of Nembe Kingdom has confessed to committing cunnilingus.
In what has come to be known as “the Igirigi Project” among the youth and elders of Nembe alike, the king admitted committing the abomination in a bid to fortify a spiritual covenant to ensure political victory for his nephew, Chief Timipre Sylva, in the run-up to the gubernatorial elections. It will be recalled that Sylva’s campaign slogan was “Covenant 2007.”
Analysts say the Igirigi Project was part of an objectionable scheme for Daukoru to rule the mineral-rich state from the sidelines, using his nephew as a stooge. According to the plot, he would seat easy on the prime first-class stool as Amanyanabo of Nembe, and exercise control over the oil and gas wealth of Bayelsa, acting under the law-abiding façade of peace keeper in his royal domain, and pre-eminent member of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council.
A shocked Part-3 student of the Niger Delta University of Nembe origin, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that cunnilingus is forbidden in Nembe for the average man, to say nothing of the Amanyanabo. “The king has failed us woefully, and I foresee him losing the throne soon,” she said. “Nothing will stop that process.”
In a similar reaction, a male speaker of the language who gave his name as Tito Alagoa, stated that it came to him as a shock when he read in the local papers and in the internet that his own king had confessed to doing something so heinous and unhealthy. “It is a travesty against our land and against everything we hold sacred,” he said. “I find it hard to believe but it has happened.”
The reaction of another Nembe citizen, Itolomo Wabote, was swift. “The king must dance naked,” he said. “What he did is simply forbidden. I dare say politicians have gone to extreme limits with fetish, and this is the time to stop it.” According to Itolomo, the slow growth rate of Bayelsa as a whole may well be caused by such spiritual hurdles, stressing that cunnilingus is not right in the sight of God.
The embattled king is already facing a groundswell of opposition from members of the Nembe Chiefs Council on account of a luxury cruise liner he is alleged to have bought to mark his second anniversary on the throne. In the light of fresh revelations, a coalition of youth groups known as the Movement Against Maduabebe, MAM, has intensified its campaign to terminate the tenure of the two-time OPEC president as king, saying that his reign has brought untold shame and disgrace to Nembe.
Questions posted to Dr Maduabebe Daukoru’s address and phone numbers have so far yielded blank results. In like manner, attempts to speak with Governor Timipre Sylva-Sam on his increasingly frosty relationship with his political godfather are yet to meet with any welcome response.
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