THE OLU OF WARRI 'S TRADITIONAL NAME RENOUNCIATION SAGA!

What's in a name? This question is one which natives of Warri have had to contemplate on over the past few days. It is no longer news that the Olu of Warri has joined the growing numbers of kings who have decided to embrace the Christian faith. What is news is the recent decision by the king to renounce the traditional title ''Ogiame'' on the basis that it meant ''king of all water gods and goddesses''. In a document titled ''The New Order of Iwere Kingdom'' where he renounced the name, the Olu of Warri is purported to have stated: “I also repent for the name and title of “Ogiame” that my ancestors and I have borne, as it connotes our allegiance to Umalokun (goddess of the river) and other deities of the sea, all of which are false gods. Today, I renounce our allegiance to Umalokun and other gods of the sea, land and sky. On behalf of the royal bloodline, the throne, the people of Iwere land, I publicly enter into a new covenant with God.” The above renouncement gave rise to a week-long occurrence which found the community under tension, but was eventually resolved with the intervention of Governor Uduaghan who was said to have had to cut short his official engagement in Abuja to meet with the palace chiefs and monarch. A cheering crowd who had earlier embarked on a protest was what decorated the front of the king's palace. Now that normalcy has been restored to the land certain questions still linger on. Was there anything fussy about the name that informed the king's decision to renounce it in the first place? Was the change of name such a big issue and sufficient enough to have amounted to a protest by the people which might have resulted in casualties? What is your opinion?