The President General of the Okpe Union Worldwide, Professor Igho Natufe, has made a passionate appeal for the full restoration of the Okpe ethnic identity and its rightful recognition as a distinct nationality in Nigeria. Addressing the press in Lagos on Wednesday, Prof. Natufe declared that the Okpe people have for too long been marginalized and misrepresented as a subset of the Urhobo ethnic group.

Citing colonial-era policies as the root of this misclassification, Natufe explained that the British wrongly subsumed Okpe under the label “Western Urhobo,” a move that led to the systematic erosion of Okpe identity. “This grave error of British colonialism assumed a ‘truth’ of its own,” he said, adding that the misrepresentation persists to this day, despite historical, cultural, and linguistic differences between Okpe and Urhobo.

Calling on President Bola Tinubu and Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to support the Okpe cause, Natufe demanded constitutional recognition and legislative amendments—particularly to the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) Law—to reflect Okpe’s unique status and entitlement to developmental representation.

He noted that other ethnic groups like the Ndokwa and Ika have been recognized in amended versions of the DESOPADEC law, while Okpe, despite its size and contribution to oil and gas production, remains excluded. “The group becomes entitled to an Executive Director and a Sub-Budget. In terms of slots, projects and impact on the area, the difference cannot be overemphasized,” he asserted.

Highlighting the historical significance of the Okpe Union, founded on May 16, 1930, Natufe described it as Nigeria’s oldest registered ethnic organization and credited it with championing the fight for Okpe monarchy restoration. “The unity of Okpe is an elephant,” he said, referencing the popular slogan “Okpe Agbamua eni.”

He also criticized Delta State’s past administration under Felix Ibru, accusing it of instituting policies that formalized the marginalization of Okpe by grouping it under Urhobo, despite the prior distinct broadcast use of the Okpe language on Bendel Radio and Television.

Quoting Okpe monarch His Royal Majesty Orhue I and referencing historic documents, Natufe emphasized that Okpe has a unique ancestry traceable to the Benin Kingdom and shares a cultural and linguistic lineage distinct from Urhobo, Isoko, and Itsekiri. “Our people are rooted in migration from the Bini Kingdom,” he stated.

In a stern rebuke to critics like Mr. Zik Gbemre, who have dismissed Okpe’s independence efforts as divisive, Natufe accused them of misinformation and likened their stance to colonial suppression of indigenous identity movements. “They are reacting just like colonialists and apartheid regimes did when Africans demanded independence,” he said.

Natufe challenged detractors to provide historical proof of Okpe being Urhobo and cited failed efforts by the Okpe Union in the 1950s to form an Okpe Division as evidence of long-standing efforts to assert autonomy.

He concluded by reaffirming the Okpe Union’s commitment to restoring Okpe as a fully recognized ethnic nationality and condemned attempts to silence that aspiration. “The identity of a people is fundamental to their emancipation,” he declared.