Esau And Jacob, Unenurhie And Evwreni. Who Is The Senior?

By Young Erhiurhoro

The title of this historical and literary piece, has already unravelled the detailed message and said much about the content and context of the subject matter in view. Again, as a member of Unenurhie community and a media practitioner, I have written extensively on the history of the Unenurhie people in respect to their traditions and customs, cultural festivals, traditional institutions, marital rites and practices, funeral rites and practices, deities and ancestral entities, farming and agricultural practices and finally, the general leadership of the Unenurhie people.

In the same way, I also took time to write about the the relationship between Unenurhie and Evwreni people as people of one descent and ancestry in one kingdom. In all these my articles about the relationship between Unenurhie and Evwreni people, the most boiling one that continues to rear its ugly head even till today amongst the Evwreni people in particular was the one I wrote on the seniority clause between Unenurhie and Evwreni communities. In fact, I received a lot of phone calls from different Evwreni elites telling me, why I decided to do such a rival publication. My reply to them was that, historical facts about our identity and history shouldn’t be hidden at this material time especially from the future generations. Yet, many were not satisfied with my replies to them on this issue. Some even promised to deal with me in a harder way if I should continue with these my publications. These were my gory and bleak experiences as a cultural analyst in regard to the histories and relationship between Unenurhie and Evwreni communities in Ughelli North LGA of Delta state.

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However, like what I posited in the first paragraph, the names, “Esau and Jacob” are well known to Christians and Bible students without much explanation or biblical references. Esau and Jacob according to the Bible book of Genesis 25: 21-34, were twin children of Isaac and Rebekah. From their birth history, Esau was senior because he came first while Jacob was junior because he came last. At first, after their birth, their relationship was very cordial as twin brothers. Jacob was very loyal and respectful to Esau because he was his elder brother. He always accorded him all the necessary honour, respect and obedience an elder brother deserved according to their culture and customs.

Unfortunately, the whole story changed just because of a simple mistake made by Esau. He mistakenly sold his seniority and birthright to his younger brother, Jacob because of just a plate of porridge. Esau came from hunting and he was famished. His younger brother had a pot of porridge by his side and instead of him to perish by starvation, he quickly relinquished his seniority to his younger brother to satisfy his hunger thirst. Secondly, when their father, Isaac was already well of age and he was foreseeing his passage to the other world, he decided to invite his heir apparent, Esau for progenitor’s blessings. Again, their own mother, because she had a great love for Jacob, robed him in disguise and presented him to their father as Esau. Because the man was very old, he blessed Jacob as his favourite instead of Esau. Before Esau returned from hunting, the whole game was already over.

This however annoyed Esau and he decided to kill Jacob, his younger brother for all the evils he did to him. This again made Jacob to flee from their country to a new country to avert the sudden death that awaited him from his elder brother. This was how the two twin brothers that were living together as one got separated. They became enemies instead of friends they used to be. They were torn apart as people from different wombs. Hatred and enmity now became the order of the day in their lives. This disunity and hatred between Esau and Jacob couldn’t be settled before the death of their parents, Isaac and Rebekah. Even till today, these two great families which have now turned to be great nations in the western world are continuously at longer heads. They see each other as enemies and have nothing again to offer each other than extermination, revolution and total wipeout. This was caused as a result of a seed of discord planted thousands of years ago between the two twin brothers through jealousy and avarice.

More importantly, the above biblical scenario is today a prototype and dramatic characterization of the seniority clause between Unenurhie and Evwreni communities. From the oral history of the Unenurhie people, Usu, the forebear and founder of the Unenurhie community and Ewurhu, the forebear and founder of the Evwreni community were descendants of the same progenitor. I have also done several interviews and researches with the Evwreni people on this historical records. Many Evwreni people truly affirmed and confirmed the above narratives of the Unenurhie people that, the Unenurhie community is truly senior to Evwreni community.

After the great Bini war during the Ogiso dynasty, so many of the chiefs and inhabitants of the kingdom fled to distant lands for safety and continuity of human existence. This fleeing group from Bini first fled to the Igbo area. Again, war broke out when some members of this Bini group supported the opposers in that Igbo land to kill the monarch on the throne. After the traditional ruler was killed, the members of the royal family and other warriors in the village decided to repatriate by killing those assassins. This made those Bini group led by Usu and Ewurhu to fled their new home in the Igbo land. They ran through the River Niger and got to where Isoko ethnic nation is today. As they were coming, the forebears of Emede and that of Enhwe pulled away. It was now left with Usu and Ewurhu as leaders and other members of the group. They passed through the Enhwe lane and got to where Unenurhie is today.

According to the oral history as presented by the Unenurhie people, it was from here Ewurhu, the younger brother to Usu who was a talented hunter went for hunting on a particular day. On that day, as God had already ordained, he shot an elephant on the opposite side of the Unenurhie river. Since an elephant was a huge animal, he couldn’t carry it in his hunting bag. He ran back home immediately to break this great news to his elder brother, Usu and other members of the neighborhood. It was truly a joyous moment for Ewurhu and the rest of them in the camp. This was where Ewurhu and some of the members of the group went to where the elephant was killed. For Ewurhu, there was no point of returning home to live across the river again since his new discovered forest was a fertile ground and a habitat for elephants and other terrestrial animals. This brought the name, “Ivwreni”, meaning the “village of elephants”. This was how Evwreni was founded by Ewurhu.

Interestingly, I decided to bring the above oral history of the Unenurhie people for my readers to know where we are coming from in this historical presentation and where we ought to go at the end of our arguments. No doubt, there are many historical facts and figures available in the history of the Unenurhie and Evwreni people, pointing to the fact that, Unenurhie is senior in all ramifications to Evwreni. We have nothing to argue about or drag here. I know deeply that, this unchallenged fact is not easily acceptable to many Evwreni leaders especially the elites. They always claimed to be senior to Unenurhie whenever this issue comes up for discussion. This is because the name of Unenurhie since this co-existence as a kingdom had not been heard or mentioned in anything they do together as Evwreni kingdom.

For instance, the three most important entities founded on the land and name known as “Evwreni kingdom” today, only bears the name of Evwreni without mentioning the name of Unenurhie. First, the capital of Evwreni kingdom is located at Evwreni community. Secondly, the headquarters of Evwreni Ward is also centred at Evwreni community. Thirdly, the recognized clan head of Evwreni kingdom by the Delta state government is from Evwreni community. These three entities and enclaves again gave a kind of hegemony to the Evwreni people over the Unenurhie people on this issue of seniority. This is a true replica of the Bible story of where Esau sold his seniority and birthright to his younger brother, Jacob because of austerity.

Today, in the settings of Evwreni kingdom, the Unenurhie people are always classified as “second class citizens”. Their voices are not heard even though many of the community leaders have tried to drag recognition to themselves in the “Evwreni Affairs”. This is quite disheartening where a senior has nothing to show for it when such prerequisites are demanded. I’m even perturbed at times when the traditional head of the Unenurhie people who is known as the Odion’Rode of Evwreni kingdom is presented as the second in command according to the traditional hierarchical arrangement of the Evwreni kingdom and the known traditional institutions. A man who ought to be the clan head is now second in command without even homage or government recognition. The Odion’Rode of Evwreni kingdom who is naturally from the Unenurhie community is only recognized when there are cultural or traditional events in the kingdom that are being celebrated which warrant such attendance and introduction. If not, nobody especially the Evwreni people know him as a traditional ruler in the kingdom.

Conclusively, the Unenurhie community is today agitating to become a separate kingdom of their own from the present Evwreni kingdom. The leadership of the community is pursuing this laudable dream with tooth and nail with the Delta state government. They have applied to the necessary government agencies and ministries saddled with such official duties and pleading with the state government to let them have a kingdom of their own. And to me as one of the community leaders, I gleefully observed that, the only way to end this “seniority clause” between Unenurhie and Evwreni communities is to grant Unenurhie people a kingdom of their own by the Delta state government. This is the only way to establish peaceful co-existence between the two communities. This will definitely put an end to issues of boundary disputes, land disputes, political marginalization, inter-communal crises, clan head disputes and other social vices that are already rearing their ugly heads to plant seeds of enmity and war between the two communities.

The Delta state government have to consider this in this perspective because no matter how this issue is resolved between the two communities today, the Evwreni man won’t accept the simple truth that, Unenurhie is senior to Evwreni. In the same way, the Evwreni man won’t agree that, the Odion’Rode from Unenurhie community should be given a staff of office by the state government for official recognition and his royalties. Again, the Evwreni man won’t agree that, the headquarters of the Evwreni Ward in order to create equity and balance between the two communities should be moved to Unenurhie community. Then, in absence of these, the Unenurhie man will argue that, Evwreni people are shortchanging them in many ways. This is why I’m pleading with the Delta state government to consider the request of the Unenurhie people of giving them a separate kingdom from the present Evwreni kingdom. A stich in time saves nine!

Young Erhiurhoro; Kjc is a reporter and a member of the Urhobo Historical Society.