11/07/2026
REFLECTIONS ON UDU LEADERSHIP AS WE CELEBRATE THE AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UDU/ECN ROAD
By Chief Austin Emaduku PhD.
Let me begin this offering by giving kudos to His Excellency Rt.Hon Sheriff F O Oborevwori, Governor of Delta State, whose administration has finally harkened to pleas by the Udu people to successive governments for the reconstruction of the Udu/ECN road. After all, governance is about responsiveness to the needs of the people. Thank you Ukodo! This is a great thing for our people.
The Udu/ECN road occupies a special emotional and historical space in the hearts of the Udu people. First, it calls to mind a golden era of leadership gone by whose essence continues to elude successive generations of leaders in Udu up till this moment. Secondly, the road, an offshoot of the bridging of the Warri River with the Udu Bridge at Ovwian, opened up Udu, then a wholly rural clan, to urbanisation and rapid social-economic development by providing a link and easy access to Warri City.
For historical context, the construction of the Udu Bridge - Udu - ECN road was conceived and executed by the then Udu Executives under the leadership of late Chief W.T. Odibo, an Udu lamp bearer whose style of leadership remains unrivalled. Late Chief W.T. Odibo is to the Udu people what late Chief Mukoro Mowoe was to the UPU and Urhobo nation.
It is to the impactful leadership of this great son of Udu and Urhobo land that an Udu musician SAN Friday Olomu aka Odogbon r'ile, sang an emotionally ladden elegy thus:
_Shif Odibo ghwu re
Urhukpe rUdu she'ame re.
Shif Odibo wo rho ma rhe nene
Shif Odibo wo rho ma rhe nene - eh
Emor' Udu vie we re
Fiki r'ebe wo ne rue r'ayen.
Translated means.
With Chief Odibo's death
The lamp of Udu has fallen into water.
Chief Odibo, please come back
Chief Odibo, please come back
The people of Udu are crying
Because of what you were doing for them.
_
The impact of the Udu Bridge and Udu/ECN road projects initiated and influenced by the Late W.T. Odibo leadership of the Udu Development Union can only best be appreciated by those who lived and experienced the hardship the people of hinterland Udu and Ughievwen went through to get to Warri. For example, to go to Warri from Otor-Udu, one needed to go to Ovworhokpokpor, then to Egini, to Ujevwu before crossing the ferry at Ovwian to get to Warri. Those coming from the Ughievwen hinterland were similarly required to pass through the same route to get to Warri. The journeys mostly on foot were made along tourteous winding earth roads that passed through the mentioned communities, which criss-crossed both sides of the present-day Udu/ECN Road. The initiators of the road project designed it to run a straight line through dense vegetation, virgin swamps and rubber plantations to ensure maximum impact for the benefitting communities that dotted both sides of the road. The townships and urban centres that have sprung up around the road are a testament to the impact it has created. Perhaps, it should be mentioned that the entire stretch of the road from Sedeco Junction to ECN on which the Udu/ECN Road was constructed was a non-existent road. It is important to recall these facts not only to highlight what committed and visionary leadership can wrought and to inspire, but also to guide against revisionism of history.
To the Udu people, this moment of the reconstruction of one of our legacy projects should call for a renewal of leadership ethos. A reflection on where we were, where we are now and where we can be if we all adopt the leadership example of Late Chief W.T.Odibo. Historically, Udu has three legacy unity projects. All three projects are homegrown and bordered on unity and development. They are the Udu Bridge, Udu Road and the Udu Market. The Udu Market has grown and given birth to a harbour market with the possibility of jetty in time to come
In his Book, "Chief W.T. Odibo: A Legacy of Leadership", Professor G.G. Darah recounted what W.T. told him that he did at the meeting of the new Udu Executive to which he had just been elected leader. "At the very first meeting of the new Udu Executive, WT asked to be guided on the priority projects the Udu people wanted pursued. The unanimous opinion supported the construction of a bridge across the Warri River to link Udu to the township. Two other projects identified were a modern market and the installation of an Ovie (traditional ruler) for Udu". As Chief W.T. was quoted to have said, at that time " it was thought that only influential politicians like the late Chief Sam Okotie-Eboh, who had his way with the Federal Government, could achieve such a feat as building the kind of bridge being dreamed about. Despite the initial trepidation, Chief Odibo and his executives trudged on and achieved the three projects that the Udu people placed before them. The lesson here is that a leader does not have to be a big politician to succeed. What is required in the example of Chief W.T. Odibo is courage, unflinching commitment, and the ability to network, lobby, mobilise and inspire people towards a collective vision.
Another point to note for unity of purpose amongst the Udu leadership at the time is their congruence of opinion when Udu’s higher interests were involved. At the time of proposing a bridge across the Warri River, the existing ferries in Udu operated as community enterprises and were a lucrative source of income to Aladja and Ovwian communities who owned them. About 30 out of the 32 Udu tradition communities felt they were being exploited by the incessant increases in fares. Matters came to a head when these communities, under the leadership of Mr. Bukata Okobiebi of Egini, who was later to play a prominent role in the building of the Udu bridge, established a ferry at Ekete Waterside. It was into this milieu that the proposal for a bridge across the Warri River, which will deny two major communities of Udu their source of income, was being proposed. It was thus a testimony to selfless leadership and unity of purpose for the common good that the likes of Chief T.J. Sokoh, who was a most prominent chief, an influential personality who himself was from Ovwian, and other leaders stood firmly behind Chief W.T. Odibo for the actualisation of the dream of bridging the River.
This is the kind of leadership Udu requires for all time.
Udu - Adooo
