The time for silence has passed. The time for diplomacy without direction is over. The Urhobo Redemption Global Movement (URGM) has emerged as a bold, unapologetic platform for Urhobos across the world committed to speaking truth to power, challenging institutional failure, and advancing a new era of self-determination, territorial integrity, and collective prosperity for the Urhobo Nation.
We represent a coalition of concerned Urhobo sons and daughters, at home and abroad, who can no longer watch our land slide into insecurity, insignificance, and systemic erosion. Today, we rise to speak on behalf of the voiceless, displaced, marginalized, and disillusioned across the 24 Kingdoms of Urhobo Land.
URHOBO LAND IS UNDER SIEGE
Across the length and breadth of Urhobo territory, insecurity has become normalized. Communities once peaceful and industrious are now sites of fear, violence, and impunity.
• Cult-related killings dominate the streets of Effurun, Ughelli, Oghara, and Sapele.
• Kidnappings, land-grabbing, and herder invasions are spreading across our villages and farmlands.
• Armed conflict and boundary encroachments threaten the cultural and political sovereignty of several kingdoms.
• Most tragically, young people are dying without a future, while the silence of those in power grows louder.
• The Centres of our towns have been taken over by settlers who brazenly block our roads and our hearing every Friday
• our farmlands and forests have become no go areas for subsistence occupations ,ancestral worship and tradomedical cultivation
The Urhobo Nation is not just at a crossroads—it is on the verge of historical collapse, and unless we act now, we risk becoming strangers in our own homeland.
THE ALADJA–OGBE-IJOH CRISIS: A FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP
The ongoing Aladja–Ogbe-Ijoh conflict remains a dark stain on the conscience of Delta State and a shameful indictment of our collective failure to protect our people. Despite multiple interventions, panels, and press statements, the situation festers—with lives lost, properties destroyed, and peace permanently postponed.
We hold the Delta State Government accountable for this prolonged crisis. Its refusal to take decisive, non-partisan action has emboldened chaos and weakened the fabric of coexistence. We equally condemn the strategic silence of key Urhobo leaders who have chosen comfort over confrontation, and politics over principle.
The blood of innocent Aladja sons and daughters is crying out for justice—and justice delayed is justice denied.
THE UPU: FROM VENERATED VOICE TO MUTED SYMBOL
With deep regret and righteous indignation, the Urhobo Redemption Global Movement condemns the complacency, ceremonial posturing, and diminishing relevance of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU). An institution once revered as the conscience and compass of the Urhobo people has become a hollow structure—unmoved by crisis, unresponsive to threats, and uninspiring to a generation in need of leadership.
• Where was the UPU when communities were under siege?
• Where is the UPU’s strategic roadmap for Urhobo territorial defense?
• What has the UPU done to influence policy, protect our borders, or inspire national solidarity?
We demand a full audit of UPU’s role and responsiveness in these trying times, and we declare that where traditional voices fail, emerging voices must rise.
TO OUR ROYAL FATHERS: YOUR SILENCE IS NO LONGER SACRED
We say this with the reverence due to your thrones, but with the urgency that the moment demands: our revered Royal Fathers must lead or make way.
Your stools were not inherited for pageantry—they were divinely appointed to safeguard Urhobo culture, land, and lives. It is unacceptable that many of our monarchs have become spectators in the face of existential threats.
We challenge the Council of Urhobo Traditional Rulers to urgently convene and issue a unified territorial declaration, reaffirming our boundaries, rights, and red lines against aggression.
The time to act is now. Your children are watching. History is recording.
OUR LAND IS NOT FOR SALE, NEGOTIATION OR SILENT CONQUEST
We are aware of political forces working in the shadows—redrawing boundaries, manipulating judicial outcomes, and displacing Urhobo heritage in the name of political balancing. We reject this agenda in its entirety.
From Okpe to Olomu, from Agbarha to Uvwie, every inch of Urhobo land is sacred and non-negotiable. Let it be known that Urhobo shall defend her territory, not with empty rhetoric, but with strategic unity, legal resistance, community mobilization, and international engagement.
OUR PATH FORWARD: THE URHOBO REDEMPTION AGENDA
The Urhobo Redemption Global Movement calls for the following immediate and irreversible actions:
1. The Convening of a Pan-Urhobo Security and Defense Assembly
Bringing together traditional rulers, youth leaders, legal experts, historians, and veterans to craft a common security charter.
2.The Launch of a Territorial Integrity Project
Documenting and mapping Urhobo borders, royal lineages, and contested boundaries, to be codified in law and defended in court.
3.The Formation of Community Defense Units
Working with lawful agencies to train and empower community-based vigilance groups for proactive surveillance and response.
4.Strategic Media and Diaspora Engagement
To spotlight Urhobo issues in national and international fora, including the African Union, ECOWAS, and UN Indigenous Forums.
5.A Call for Leadership Reform
Demanding transparency and renewal within the UPU and supporting visionary leaders who are ready to confront 21st-century threats with courage and capacity.
OUR FINAL WORD: WE WILL NOT BE ERADICATED BY SILENCE
This is no longer just about Urhobo pride. This is about Urhobo survival.
We are a nation with a rich history, formidable intellect, vast resources, and a global footprint. But if we do not defend what is ours today, there will be no nation left to inherit tomorrow.
We call on every Urhobo son and daughter, every clan and kingdom, every stakeholder and sympathizer to stand up, speak out, and organize. The hour of redemption is now.
Urhobo shall not die. Urhobo shall not disappear. Urhobo shall rise again—stronger, united, and unbreakable.
Signed,
Oghenero Onoriode
The Urhobo Redemption Global Movement (URGM)
For Justice. For Security. For Redemption.
