The Nye Udu Upata Kingdom, HRM Felix Enene Otuwarikpo, has reassured all Upata people and residents of his resolve to provide an enabling environment for legitimate businesses to thrive.
The monarch who gave the assurance when he received the leadership of the Ula Ikata women on a courtesy visit to his Ihuaba palace, restated that the Upata Traditional Council would continually protect those carrying out legitimate business, and urged the women to support the current efforts towards the sustenance of peace and development in their community and across Upata communities.
Expressing delight over the visit, the royal father reiterated the need for members of the community to obey extant laws and respect the rights of one another to ensure peaceful and mutual co-existence and development.
The traditional ruler who doubles as the Regent of Ekpeye Ethnic Nation, expressed his condolences to the women over the death of the oldest woman in the community, Mrs. Benicy Wilfred, and cautioned them to remain calm as other members of the community would gradually return home after years of protracted communal crisis.
He informed the delegation that the Upata Traditional Council would partner with the people of Ula Ikata community to enable them live normal communal life.
While he expressed sadness over the incident that led to the attack on Upata House by miscreants, he assured that the police would make public the outcome of their investigation and that whoever is found culpable would face the wrath of the law.
Earlier, the women who said they were at the palace to celebrate with him and the royal household after his successful medical trip abroad, decried the attack on the Upata House, Nye Udu Upata Central Palace at Edeoha Town, the administrative headquarters of the Upata people.
Mrs.Lady Matthew who, led the women to the palace said they were happy that the monarch was healthy despite his rumoured death and that their presence was also to appreciate the Upata monarch for engaging the warring groups in the community to accept peace.
Recall that on ascending the Upata throne in 2017, Nye Udu Otuwarikpo through a committee he created, successfully reconciled and brought back the people of UlaIkata to their ancestral home after years of land related crisis that took several lives and houses destroyed.
