Uyoyou Edewor pays tribute to fallen heroes of Niger Delta marginalisation struggle
By Anote Ajeluorou
UNIVERSITY don and Dean of Faculty of Arts, Delta State University, Abraka, Rev. Canon Prof. Uyoyou Nelson Edewor, has paid glowing tribute to the fallen heroes of the Niger Delta, who challenged the larger Nigerian state for the equitable distribution of the wealth of the region, so the locals could have a fair share instead of being denied what is rightly theirs. He praised the courage of fallen heroes who were environmental activists and other accidental casualties who fell in the chaotic rage that decimated many in the Niger Delta, especially those who died on account of the mindless oil exploration in the troubled region.
Edewor made the tribute while giving the 119 inaugural lecture of the university titled ‘Where God and Mortals Meet: Nelson Edewor’s Odyssey of Recontextualised Ivri Corpus in a Nation Soiled by Oil’ on Thursday, February 5, 2026 at Campus 3, Abraka. Edewor called the harrowing experience people in the Niger Delta face as “nightmare at noon” and listed the fallen heroes like Isaac Adaka Boro of the 12-day revolution fame, writer and environmental campaigner, Ken Saro-Wiwa, those who are still being incarcerated for their agitations, victims of Odi Massacre of 1999 and Jesse fire disaster of 1998. He called for a one-minute silence to honour the fallen heroes of the Niger Delta in the packed hall that had many traditional rulers, politicians, dignitaries from the civil society and business and academia.
Edewor declared that while the local populace in the Niger Delta region suffers from the harmful activities of oil exploitation, the Oil International Companies (OICS) ruining the region’s environment and way of life conveniently have their headquarters in the US (Mobile), The Netherlands (Shell), Rome (Agip), Paris (TotalEnergies), UK (Shell), with NNPCL in Abuja and Dangote Refinery (Lagos), faraway from the pains the people undergo daily. Edewor condemned this approach that leaves the people in the region with a short end of the stick and blamed it on their inability to appreciate the people’s pains, so as to make efforts to remedy their harmful oil activities.
The DELSU faculty dean said his inaugural lecture, anchored on the Isoko nation’s ‘Ivri’ philosophical phenomenon of duality and paradox of aggression and prosperity and how the totem is designed to tame the aggression and usher in prosperity, comparing the complex situation in the Niger Delta where oil wealth sits side-by-side with horrendous poverty the essence of Ivri and question the acute marginalisation of the people in whose soil oil is derived to enrich others while leaving the region’s people in dire needs of basic amenities.
Prof. Uyoyou Nelson Edewor delivering DELSU’s 119th Inaugural Lecture 2026… in Abraka PHOTO: ROCKSON IGELIGE
The sculptor, carver and priest also reminded his audience of how Ivri informs his critical art theory and aertistic practice, saying how the Isoko philosophical phenomenon known as Ivri informs his creative vision. Edewor, who comes from a long line of carvers, argued that Ivri as a philosophical concept enables him to tackle the myriads of problems in his beloved Niger Delta that continues to be ruined by the activities of oil multinationals and the Nigerian state and their combined indifference, as that fail to show empathy for people in the affected region.
Edewor then made striking conclusions when he said, “Mr. Vice Chancellor Sir, my due diligence as a sculptor, art historian and priest, in commitment to internalise, decode and externalise divine inspiration through visual idioms of expression, has drawn me to expound on the need for a better Niger Delta environment and society, drawing from Ivri Corpus cenceptualisation. It is important to state here that evert human (Mortal) has the gift of inspiration (God) for diverse purposes for social development. Once activated, the outcome of that inspiration is ‘Where God and Mortal Meet’ – Gen. 1.28 is the divine mandate.
“My studio research therefore is not a regurgitation of tradition, but a reinvention of tradition based on social reality aimed at negative aggression tendencies in modern society. As a revealed formal essence, while establishing the fact that artists are prophets of formal expression, with art being their portal in the ‘Where God Meets Mortal’ context, my modern Ivri draws attention to the need for a brighter Niger Delta social-scape.
Edewor then ended his inaugural lecture with Martin Luther King’s futuristic prophesy for the much maligned Niger Delta, when he declared thus, “Indeed, ‘I Have a Dream’ that someday, the Niger Delta will be a beautiful haven where our children shall not experience ‘Nightmare at Noon’, but shall ‘Sing the Lord’s Song on Glory Land’ in affluence and fulfilment!”
Remaing true to both his priestly and artistic calling, Edewor began his lecture with a Christian song and also ended with another that porphesy a bright future for the Niger Delta away from its current neglect and marginalisation both by the oil companies and the Nigerian state.
