Despite the advent of Christianity in Warri Kingdom through a group of Augustinian Monks led by Father Franciso of the Mater Dei Order between 1571 and 1574, Itsekiri were and still are very, very traditional in nature and closely knitted under a single umbrella – the highly reversed and pristine Warri monarchical throne as symbolised by both past and present Olu of Warri Kingdom, for centuries now.
            Therefore, particularly in those days of yore, the Olu-in-Council’s words was law; never to be challenged by anybody within (and in those days, outside) the Warri Kingdom. It was in this milieu that Prince Eyolusan, fourth child of the demised Olu Erejuwa I was sometime in 1807 crowned as Akengbuwa I, the 16th Olu of Warri Kingdom, who reigned until he joined his ancestors of June 15, 1848.
            Despite his reputation of being the most powerful of all Warri monarchs, Olu Akengbuwa who was approaching his fortieth year on the throne, was worried by the problem of rivalry between his 71 children over who would succeed him to the throne. This struggle between the Princes of the Warri Kingdom, has already taken its first casualty; Prince Agbaga, Olu Akengbuwa’s first child and heir apparent, who died suddenly under mysterious circumstances, making the lot to fall on Prince Etse Omateye, the next to late Prince Agbaga as heir apparent.
            But behold, Prince Omateye was extremely impatient. He wished his father to join his ancestors quickly so that he (Omateye) can ascend the throne on time, However, while Omateye was scheming and warming up to take over the kingdom in view of his father’s old age, little did he know that his actions were going to lead him to curse the Itsekiri nation a monarchical travail – an interregnum that lasted close to a century. This, as recorded by history, was a result of a curse placed on Itsekiri by a beheaded Ife Priest on the orders of Olu Akengbuwa.
            Perhaps, in desperation to ascend the throne, Prince Omateye did certain things directly against his father, Olu Akengbuwa and the Itsekiri tradition. For this, shortly before joining his ancestors on June 15, 1848, Olu Akengbuwa laid the following curse on Prince Omateye: Itsekiri dialect: ‘Oba ma gua omi, Ojigue wa gua ola’. Translated: “if the king (Oba) passes on today, the ferryman (Ojigue) shall also sail away tomorrow.” This meant that if he died, his son would follow soon after.
            When Olu Akengbuwa passed on, the road was clear for the crowned Prince, Omateye, to finally succeed him as the 17th Olu of Warri. But behold, as the preparation for his late father’s funeral rite and his (Omateye) subsequent installation to the throne was in top-gear, Prince Omateye, on June 18, 1848 passed on, precisely three days after his father, Olu Akengbuwa, joined his ancestors.
            As if this was not enough and still in this absolute state of melee, Omatseye’s younger brother, Prince Ejoh who could appropriately ascend the throne a the 17th Olu of Warri, was sent for by the king-makes. Again, as preparation for installing him was nearing completion, he took ill and passed on within three months!
            Upset, infuriated and so encumbered with disillusion and fear of the Emaye’s continuity in the Warri monarchical reign, Omateye and Ejoh’s elder sister, Prices Idolorunsan otherwise known as Iye, a woman of strong character and far reaching influence, attempted to seize the Warri throne after the demise of his younger ones in quick succession. Her action was, and still is a taboo in Itsekiri traditional constitution. The consequences on her were frightening. This marked the beginning of the over 88 years interregnum in Warri kingdom. The rest is now history.
            To Itsekiris, this unfortunate situation was caused by two things viz: the curse placed on Prince Omateye by his father, Olu Akengbuwa and two, the other curse placed on the Itsekiri nation by an Ife native doctor (Priest) during the reign of Olu Akengbuwa.
            When Olu Akengbuwa ordered the Ife Priest beheaded as a result of an incident concerning one of his younger wife, Iroli, Prince Omateye and Prices Iye, the Ife priest warned that his blood should not be shed in the kingdom or there would be serious consequences not only for the king but also for the kingdom itself.
            “I am willing to die at your Majesty’s command but in justice to God and the community of your dynasty and the Itsekiri, let me be removed from your presence and be killed outside the city or, if I am to beheaded here, se that my blood is not allowed to touch the ground. But if this warning be disregarded and my blood happens to touch this land, then it shall come to pass that, after you, Akengbuwa there shall be no other Olu on the Itsekiri throne for more than three generations hence”, the Ife native doctor (Priest) warned.
            In spite of this warning, the native doctor’s, head was hacked off in Warri. The consequence of this was almost a century interregnum in Warri kingdom. Indeed, the Ife native doctor’s curse came to pass! Itsekiri never had an Olu of Warri until Prince Emiko Ikenbuwa, grand son of Prince Ejoh began the second dynasty after the interregnum. He was already old when he ascended the throne. He reigned as Olu Ginuwa II between 1936-1949, before joining his ancestors. Prince Wilson Gbesimi Emiko, another a descendant of Prince Ejoh, succeeded his father, Olu Ginuwa II on March 24, 1951 as Olu Erejuwa II, the 19th Olu of Warri Kingdom. He reigned peacefully before joining his ancestors on December 17, 1986.
            However, the curse on Prince Omateye lingered on. There was high-level disunity among his children and descendants. This perhaps explains why the 18th Olu was picked from Prince Ejoh’s lieage, a younger brother of Prince Omateye.
            The Oluship has remained in the Ejoh lineage from then on till date as the present monarch, Prince Godwin Toritseju Emiko, one of the children of the demised Olu Erejuwa II, was on May 2, 1987 crowned as the 20th Olu of Warri Kingdom amid pump and pageantry.
            However, a failed attempt was made by the Prince Omateye descendants to bounce back into the Oluship in the 60s through the solo effort of the late Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the then powerful Federal Finance Minister.
            Due to some uncontrolled internal wrangling between Itsekiri political leaders in different parties, Olu Erejuwa II was removed and deposed to Ogbesse in present day Edo State, by Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh. In his place, Prince Moju Igbene was crowned in the most controversial coronation in Itsekiri history, as an Olu of Warri.
            This new and unpopular Olu of Warri from the Omateye lineage did not say on the throne for more than three months before he allegedly started having some strange ailments. According to reports, he eventually went blind. Meanwhile, the military coup of 1965 claimed the life of the “coronation” of Olu Igbene had one fatal end or the other.
            When General David Ejoor became the Military Administrator of the then circumstances surrounding the deposition of Olu Erejuwa II. The committee submitted its report and Olu Erejuwa was subsequently re-installed to the Warri monarchical throne.
            Prince (Olu?) Moju Igbene, reportedly passed on 10 years after he was controversially coronated as an Olu of Warri. Today, Itsekiri history does not recognize him as a past Olu. To most Itsekiris, all this still has to do with the curse placed on Prince Omateye by his father, Olu Akengbuwa that as at then, had not been renounced.
            However, all the misfortunes being witnessed by Omateye descendants as a result of the curse, may soon become a thing of the past as the over 58 years old curse have been formally denounced by ‘Oluekine’ of Orugboh on the formal request of the Omateye descendants. The denouncement was done on Wednesday, October 19, 2005.
            Informed source in Omateye descendants union told Warri Mirror that the denouncement became inevitable, due to the spiritual, emotional set-back and attack the Omateye descendants have been suffering for close to two centuries now as a result of the curse.
            To once and for all break this ancestral curse, an 8-member council of elders was put in place under the Chairmanship of Chief B.E. Otuedon-Okome, with Prince Murphy Akpieyi-Otuedon as Secretary General.
            Other members of the council are: Chief J.J. Akpieyi-Otuedon, Barr. Palmer Otuedon, Chief D.A. Ireyeforju, Chief (Dr). Charles C.D. Ikomi, Chief E.A. Temile and Prince Smart Temile. It was this council that put machinery in place to effect the denouncement of this ancestral curse on the Omateyes. The ‘Okparans’ (representatives) of the gods were approached both in the physical and in the spiritual world, with the combined prayers by Christian prayer Warriors, to further denounce the curse and uplift the soul of late Prince Omateye.
            With the ancestral curse denounced, the descendants of Omateye, being the eldest male child of ‘Ugogo Maru’ in Warri Kingdom, now have all rights and privileges, without limitation to the throne of their fore fathers – Warri Kingdom.
            Reacting to this development, frontline Prince of the Omateye stock and General Secretary of the council of elders, Murphy Akpieyi-Otuedon, thanked all members of the ‘Ugogo Maru’ who were instrumental to the breaking of the curse. According to him, the curse affected the entire Itsekiri nation and not just the Omateye descendants alone.