By Mokobia Rita.
WARRI/Nigeria: Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has thrown the backing of the Delta State Government behind the Warri Unity Games, describing sporting activities that bring different communities together as a useful pathway to rebuilding trust and sustaining peace in the area.
The governor’s position was conveyed by the Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Nyerhovwo Tonukari, who represented him at the closing ceremony of the maiden Warri Unity Games at the Federal Government College, Warri.
Tonukari said Oborevwori regarded the initiative as an opportunity for residents from different communities to interact outside the usual boundaries of ethnicity and competition, while building relationships capable of supporting lasting peace.
The commissioner also conveyed the governor’s regret at his inability to attend the ceremony personally because of official engagements.
Oborevwori commended the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, for initiating the games, saying the sporting festival had provided an avenue for people from different communities to compete, interact and establish bonds beyond the field of play.
“On behalf of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and the Delta State Government, I declare our absolute and resolute support for every community-driven initiative that enhances youth empowerment, cultural preservation and peaceful coexistence,” Tonukari said.
The governor urged participants and spectators to make discipline, fair play and mutual respect part of the values promoted through the competition, expressing the hope that friendships created during the games would continue beyond the closing ceremony.
The message from the state government came against a wider appeal from traditional rulers at the event for Warri’s communities to use the sporting festival as an opportunity to address old divisions and strengthen their relationships.
The Ovie of Agbarha-Warri Kingdom, HRM King Kingsley Emakpo Orereh, Ataneru Igbi II, commended the Olu for introducing the games and described the initiative as an opportunity for reconciliation and renewed unity.
Orereh urged residents to carry the spirit of the games into their daily lives, particularly warning against inflammatory exchanges capable of reopening ethnic divisions on social media.
Recalling his childhood in Ekpen Street, the monarch said relationships among the communities had historically been much closer than contemporary divisions might suggest.
“I grew up in Ekpen Street and I used to say I am an Okere man because there was no difference between Urhobos and Itsekiris. In fact, I spoke Itsekiri more than Urhobo,” he said.
He urged residents to seize the opportunity presented by the games for what he described as “total reconciliation”, pointing to intermarriages and longstanding family relationships as evidence that the communities remain deeply connected.
For the Olu of Warri, the significance of the games goes beyond sport.
Ogiame Atuwatse III said the competition was conceived to demonstrate that the people of Warri had far more in common than what separated them, adding that the event would now become part of activities marking his coronation anniversary.
According to the monarch, the first Saturday of the anniversary celebration week will henceforth be dedicated to an event designed to promote unity among the different groups that call Warri home.
He said the decision was informed partly by the need to learn from Warri’s troubled past and ensure that the circumstances that produced conflict do not recur.
Reflecting on the early 1990s, the Olu recalled how an occasion associated with the coronation anniversary of his predecessor, Ogiame Atuwatse II, deteriorated into violence, leaving scars from which the city had yet to fully recover.
He also recalled Warri’s earlier cultural prominence, noting that the city once had the potential to develop into a major national cultural tourism destination through its carnival tradition, long before the emergence of the Calabar Carnival.
“Warri desires to rise again, and to rise better than before,” Ogiame Atuwatse III declared.
The Unity Games therefore ended with the emphasis shifting beyond the winners and losers of the sporting contests to a larger question of how Warri’s communities can use shared experiences, family ties, culture and youth engagement to build a more peaceful future.
For the Delta State Government, the event represents the kind of community-led initiative it believes can complement broader efforts to promote peace, youth participation and harmonious coexistence across the state.
