His Royal Majesty, Sir Emmanuel Okumagba (JP), Okumgba II, the Orusuen of Okere-Urhobo Warri Kingdom, in the Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, has passed away and is now with his ancestors. He was a leading Urhobo monarch. The official notification of Okumagba’s passing was revealed on Sunday at a news conference held at the Orosuen palace by Chief Gold Eburu, the Otata of the Okere-Urhobo kingdom in Warri. The declaration was made in the king’s palace in front of the Okere-Urhobo Kingdom’s populace and a retinue of chiefs.
Another indication that the kingdom was in mourning was the black fabric covering the Oroseun of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom’s royal stool. “His Majesty, Okumagba The Second, had travelled to join his ancestors,” Chief Gold Eburu told the media.
The last rites of passage would be revealed later, according to Eburu. The Okere-Urhobo Kingdom’s Otata announced as a result that the Council of Chiefs has directed that, in line with the customs and traditions of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom, no ceremonies such as burials, marriages, and others would take place within the kingdom until after the celebrations of the final rites of the Okumagba The Second. He urged everyone in the kingdom to maintain order and abide by the law. On November 16, 2020, the departed king was crowned by kingmakers in the Okere-Urhobo Kingdom, led by the kingdom’s eldest kingmaker, High Chief George Amurun.
On Tuesday, December 22, 2020, the Delta State Government officially recognized him as the Orusuen (King) of the Okere-Urhobo Kingdom in Warri. On Tuesday, January 5, 2021, they gave him a staff of office. Okumagba The Second succeeded His Majesty, Paul Oghenero Okumagba, Idama II, who passed away in July 2019. He was a former professor of sociology at the sociology department of Delta State University, Abraka.
