28/01/2026
IBRIFO YEAR END VISIT BY ITSEKIRI THINK SOLUTIONS
Contribution List for Our Yearly Outreach;
1. Ekpeju Menekpo 15,000
2. Toritseju Gladys 10,000
3. Jolomi Malcolm Ojumude 12,000
4. Bright Omaghomi Okoroatsegor added 100,000
Total. 137,000
Mr Odeworitse supported with his car with fuel to and from, his car tire was punctured along the way where he had to spend his money to get Vulcanizer to fix it, not forgetting his provision of the Lord hot gin with which we presented to the community.
Mr. Ekpeju Menekpo took care of our mobility by hiring a cab for the trip as well as refreshing soft drinks for the journey.
This means we embarked on the journey with two vehicles.
As rightly nominated by members of this group Itsekiri Think Solutions, we successfully visited Ibrifo 3rd January 2026 to felicitate with our aged father's and mother's and the entire members of Ibrifo Community present at the time of our visit.
Making the trip was Mr. Bright Omaghomi and Mr. Ekpeju Menekpo for Itsekiri Think Solutions and Ojumude Tosan Bishop and Comr Ode Clem for Iwere Patriotic Congress.
The people of Ibrifo where excited to see us just as we are to see them.
Enclosed in each envelope ✉️ were cash gift amounting to five thousand naira only ( #5,000) we ended up sharing two of the envelopes to each person at IBRIFO given the number available at the time of the visit as against what we expected and planned for making it Ten Thousand naira only ( #10,000) to each person. The community even had to appeal to us so those present can collect some packages for and on behalf of those not present at the time to which we obliged after taking care of those present at the time.
At Efruokpe we gave out Fifteen Thousand naira ( #15,000) given we had not originally planned for them but for Ibrifo.
In all we were able to satisfy 13 person's with Ten Thousand naira ( #10,000) only while two persons got Five Thousand naira only ( #5,000)
Interest you to note that the land upon which the Delta State polytechnic was build was taken by force from IBRIFO Community by the then Governor of Delta State; Chief James Onanefe Ibori.
We where informed of the support and stand of Chief Priest Bawo Bubus in defending the community, who happens to b the chief priest of the IBRIFO Community who is based uptown in warri but do visit often....yet there's the urgent need to have more indegenes of IBRIFO Community come back home, to be resident in the village to defend it.
The sad tale of tippers mining sand from the community beach but without paying any dime for royalty to the community as they do so with he influence of the Otefe community who insists that the tippers drivers and whoever is mining sand in the community should not pay to Ibrifo Community but to them who claimed to be landlord.
Before we got to Ibifo we also branched into Efruokpe and gave some yuletide celebration gift to Dr. Tsola who we met at the entrance of the community and from our findings Efruokpe seemed to have more control over their land compared with IBRIFO and the people of Efruokpe though can speak Urhobo fluently they speak Itsekiri more and play Itsekiri music in the community even with inter marriage.
The confusion I am having and asking is why are both communities facing same challenge from hostile neighbor in the same axis and LGA not collaborate to defend themselves as we observed Efruokpe to be more in control than IBRIFO.
Both communities of Efruokpe and IBRIFO are on the same axis along the river ethiope river bank from the Benin expressway down to the Otefe polytechnic and beyond, in fact the stretch continues to sakponba in Edo state historically which clearly ascertained Itsekiri communities are all lined up on the river ethiope up to Sakponba and for your information this rout was where Ginuwa traveled down from Benin Kingdom to all these villages dropping the pregnant sister Ifo along these communities of IBRIFO and Efruokpe and then planting the ikimi tree at Oghara eki water side before traveling into he Benin river (Okun river) till Bayelsa before returning to live and join his ancestors at Ijala and for reference Ijala community is on the warri main land, until the Son moved to Big warri where he established his base now retained as the headquarters of all Itsekiri.
Finally the community needs strong advocacy to mirror their plight, conditions of underdevelopment and total neglect by government at all levels to the public.
Urhobo in our LGAs enjoy government presence yet are always crying marginalization still asking for more but in our case we are just too quiet about injustice we suffer in other LGAs particularly those dominated by Urhobos..
Such advocacy must be targeted and directed at the government of the day particularly state and local government and calling the government to act until they become ashame of their evil act before public eyes with constant call out and agitation government may not respond..
Let me sincerely thank every member of this noble group Itsekiri Think Solutions for their contributions and support thus far these numbers of years we have taken this task upon ourselves.
I also want to thank Iwere Patriotic Congress and in Particular all those who made this year's trip to Ibrifo.
Let's do this again to another community this year end 2026.
Enedokpe gidigbo
