TRADITIONAL RULERSHIP AND POLITICS: NEUTRALITY OR PARTISANSHIP BY PROF IGHO NATUFE
As has been argued elsewhere, traditional rulership is incongruous with a republican political system.
The search for a role for traditional rulers in the governance of Nigeria has been elusive, notwithstanding the promises of each succeeding government – civilian and military – to carve a role for them in the Constitution. Towards this end, the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida established a Political Bureau to inter alia, “review Nigeria’s political history and identify the basic problems which have led to our failure in the past and suggest ways of resolving and coping with these problems.”
The Political Bureau, chaired by S. J. Cookey, included some prominent academics as members.
It is ironic that traditional rulers, who held exclusive powers in their respective kingdoms before the intrusion of British colonial rule, would now be pleading for a role in post-colonial Nigeria. Even under British rule, their role had significantly diminished from that of their imperious past. They found themselves as tools of the British indirect rule system. Their “subjects”, the anti-colonial nationalists gradually began to doubt the relevance of their role.
As noted by Obafemi Awolowo: “There is a mutual distrust verging on antagonism between the educated few and the Chiefs in Nigeria. The latter fear that the former are out to oust them from their privileged positions.” This feeling of “mutual distrust” continues to underline the relations between traditional rulers and Nigerian political leaders. Even when a role was carved for them in the various houses of chiefs in the respective regions in 1954-January 1966, they were at the mercy of politicians who decided when and how to dispose of them as dictated by political expediency. This trend has continued in the 4th Republic.
The Political Bureau recognized the significance of traditional rulership in Nigeria’s political system, a view which was accepted by the Ibrahim Babangida military Government,
But it proposed contending options vis-à-vis traditional rulership that need to be grappled with. The Political Bureau submitted the following options:- i. ”outright abolition of the institution”: ii “co-optation in government”; iii “democratization to conform with process of modern government”; iv “maintenance of status quo”; and v “the determination of their relevance and future by the people.”
It was the view of the Political Bureau that “traditional rulers should have no specific role to play in government beyond the local government level, where they have relevance.” The Political Bureau “also agreed that it is a misnomer, considering the scope and character of the contemporary Nigerian state to call them traditional ‘rulers’”.
Therefore, the Political Bureau reasoned that it “will make no sense to install in the political system, people whose primary qualifications is ascribed to status at a time when the people are demanding a truly democratic polity.”
Even though the Political Bureau recommended that “traditional rulers should have no specific role to play in government beyond the local government level, where they have relevance”, the concluding section of its recommendations is more telling when it declared: “They possess no special qualities to enable them to be used in enriching the political system or instilling moral rectitude in public life.”
This was a very serious indictment of traditional rulers. To put it bluntly, as opined by the Political Bureau, traditional rulers are of no use to Nigeria’s political system. What are the implications of “co-optation in government”? How do you “democratize” traditional rulers to make them “conform to the process of modern government”? What processes are there for the “people” to determine the “relevance and future” of traditional rulers? These vital gaps in the work of the Political Bureau need to be addressed by Nigerians as they contemplate a role for their traditional rulers.
On September 10, 2026, the Forum of Urhobo Traditional Rulers (Ukoko R’Ivie R’Urhobo) adopted Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Oborevwori “as the sole candidate of the Urhobo Nation for the 2027 governorship election”. If the “monarchs remained strictly apolitical”, as claimed by HRM Dr. Monday Obukohwo Whiskey, Udurhie I, Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom and Spokesman of the Ukoko R’Ivie R’Urhobo, their endorsement of “Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, as the sole candidate of the Urhobo Nation for the 2027 governorship election” and their subsequent decree that “no other Urhobo governorship aspirant will be received or given royal blessings by traditional rulers in Urhobo land” is an unashamed mockery of the concept of apolitical.
In his essay entitled “If Nigeria is not divided, we will never have any sense in the North”, Mohammed Bello Doka had this to say about traditional rulers. “The traditional rulers are glorified cultural dancers with big turbans and zero real authority”. He continued: “The traditional rulers … even though powerless, they are led by greed. They have sold their titles & respect for cash & their influence on government appointments. The common man no longer bows to them. They have lost respect because they never earned it through service”. This characterization of traditional rulers can be said to apply to scores of traditional rulers in Southern Nigeria, including Delta State.
In January 2026, Governor Rt. Hon. Francis Oborevwori gifted “60 brand new Prados and five Land Cruisers” to traditional rulers in Delta State. He referred to the traditional rulers as “tools of service”, emphasizing that traditional rulers are “vital intermediaries between government and the people at the grassroots”. There is a conceptual congruity between Governor Oborevwori’s categorization of traditional rulers as “tools of service” and their status as tools of the British indirect rule system
In appreciation of the gifts, the Chairman of the Delta State Council of Traditional Rulers and the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, HRM Orhue l, “assured the governor of the traditional institution’s unwavering support for his administration”.
In underlining the “assurance” of the traditional rulers’ “unwavering support for” Governor Oborevwori, as stated by HRM Orhue l, the “tools of service” responded accordingly at their gathering at the Palace of the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom. Is there any correlation between the “gifts of 65 brand new SUVs to the traditional rulers” in January 2026 and the declaration of the Urhobo Kings in September 2026? Is this a mere coincidence or a quid pro quo?
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State recently “advised traditional rulers to steer clear of politics and embrace all political actors without bias, warning that any of them found engaging in politics would be treated as a politician”.
This warning applies to traditional rulers across Nigeria, including Delta State.
Thus, the Urhobo Traditional Rulers are urged to reverse their ill-advised “declaration” in order to protect the sanctity of their respective thrones. This “declaration” has brought grave disrepute to their respective thrones and dishonour to their HRM titles. Otherwise, they should be prepared to be “treated as politicians” with all the consequences attached to electioneering campaigns.
Of particular concern to Okpe Union, the mouth-piece of the Okpe Nation is the role of our revered Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, HRM Orhue l, in the gathering of the Urhobo Traditional Rulers. By doing so, he has wrongly subsumed Okpe ethnicity under an Urhobo appellation, which is diametrically opposed to historical facts as well as to his own stated position affirming Okpe as a distinct ethnic nationality. It is instructive to note the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom’s Keynote Address at the 3rd AGM of the Okpe Union of North America where he succinctly declared:
“Okpe is a unique ethnic nationality. It has distinctive roots in ancient history, tradition, culture, customs and language.”
He added: “Our people are rooted in migration from the Bini Kingdom. This historical experience is similar to most other ethnic nationalities of the Western Niger Delta. Of all these nationalities however, Okpe History, language, tradition, and culture are closer to those of Bini which form part of the Edo group of languages.”
Furthermore, a study by Udogun Okpe, the supreme organ for the traditional administration of the Okpe Kingdom, stated emphatically that “Okpe is indubitably known to be a distinct and autonomous Kingdom, an ethnic entity from its beginning. The people and their language are distinct and are named after their progenitor, Okpe, whose four sons founded the present day Okpe Kingdom”.
At a reception welcoming the First Lady, Senator Mrs. Remi Tinubu in Asaba, Delta State in late March 2025, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Delta State Council of Traditional Rulers, HRM Orhue l, the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, declared that “come 2027, we Deltans will vote for President Tinubu”. This was not the precursor of political misadventure by Delta State’s traditional rulers. During the campaign for the 2023 national elections, for example, the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom’s renegade faction of the Okpe Union urged Okpe nationals to vote for “all” candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). This interference of the Palace in partisan politics was designed to scuttle the chances of other Okpe nationals in rival political parties: for example, Okakuro Ede Dafinone (of the All Progressive Congress –APC) and Barr. Ben Etanabene (of the Labour Party – LP), who won their elections to the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, despite the intrusion of the Palace.
A throne that campaigns for any political party or candidate automatically betrays the rest of the citizens of that given nationality. By so doing, the traditional ruler transforms his palace into a campaign headquarters for the said political party or candidate, a transformation which vitiates the sanctity of the throne. This is injurious to the reputation of the throne as the traditional ruler becomes a messenger, an errand man of the government. Prestige is lost, and the reputation of the kingdom is compromised.
No traditional ruler, including our Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, is in a position to assure political parties on how Deltans and Okpe nationals will vote in any election. We are in a democratic polity, and not in a dictatorial or an absolute monarchical system. Traditional rulers must stay out of politics or disrobe themselves from their kingships and join political parties of their choices. It is disingenuous of them to hide behind the sanctuary of their palaces and engage in partisan politics under a dubious claim of being “apolitical”. Deltans, including Okpe nationals, will vote their conscience and discard the diktat of traditional rulers. We call on Okpe nationals to vote for candidates of their choice like they did in 2023. The Will of the People must prevail over the dictatorial decree of any traditional ruler.
PROF. O. IGHO NATUFE, PRESIDENT GENERAL OF OKPE UNION (WORLDWIDE), WRITES FROM LAGOS