We never dreamt we would produce a President —Otuoke monarch

Punch

10 June 2011

We never dreamt we would produce a President —Otuoke monarch

 

When political heavyweights, heads of government of different countries and diverse audience gathered in Abuja to witness the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, Mike Odiegwu visited Otuoke, a small town in Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State, where the President was born, to gauge the mood of the residents of the sleepy community.

When Otuoke, a small community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was founded by a migrant from Benin Kingdom called Oke, the grandson of Oloyi, nobody envisaged that the inconspicuous hamlet would one day find its way to the world map.

Not even Oke whose name means “beginning” could predict when great beginning for the community which is surrounded by water would begin.

But Otuoke (house or family of Oke) has suddenly become the Biblical mustard seed, which has a nucleus beginning when a planted but later grows into a mighty tree with many branches.

Though one of the smallest communities in Nigeria, it has become the first among others, the pride of the South-South geo-political zone; the envy of other notable cities and the mother of the first citizen of the most populous country in Africa.