The Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, has inaugurated the maiden edition of the Warri Unity Games, declaring that the annual event would be held on the first Saturday of the coronation anniversary celebration week to promote unity among the various ethnic groups in Warri.

The monarch made this known in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Monday, where he addressed guests, students and stakeholders at the Federal Government College, Warri.

“Our beloved people, our honoured neighbours, our distinguished guests — we welcome you, with joy in our heart, to this first edition of the Warri Unity Games,” the monarch said.

He said the games were designed to reveal that the initiative would help the community rise above what he described as past hurts and suspicions.

“It is our hope, and indeed our firm conviction, that these Games will reveal a simple truth: that far more unites us than divides us. And beyond that, they will show us something greater still — that when we rise above our past hurts, rise above our traumas, rise above our suspicions, and rise above our differences, we become capable of attaining a powerful, collective destiny.”

Recalling his coronation in August 2021, the Olu said he had declared then that he had no intention to prosper in isolation, stressing that the Unity Games now gave that pledge, in his words, a home on the calendar.

The traditional ruler reflected on a painful chapter in the ancient kingdom’s history, recalling that a proposed land carnival marking the coronation anniversary of his father, the late Ogiame Atuwatse II, degenerated into violence in the early 1990s.

“It led to violence and devastation from which, three decades later, Warri has yet to fully recover,” he said, attributing the crisis to pride and what he called “negative and destructive energies.”

He noted that Warri had, at the time, been staging a carnival that captured the attention of all of Nigeria, well before the emergence of Cross River State’s Calabar Carnival under former Governor Donald Duke, lamenting that the city lost its pioneering place as a result of the crisis.

The Olu, however, expressed confidence that Warri would rise again, declaring, “This time, however, we will not sit and wait for an unfortunate reaction to a beautiful and inspirational innovation. We are taking the bull by the horns.”

He added that his reign’s coronation anniversary would, from that point on, be devoted to unity, peace, progress and prosperity, for as long as his reign lasted.

The Warri Unity Games, according to the palace, is expected to become an annual fixture on the kingdom’s calendar, bringing residents across communal lines together in the spirit of the monarch’s unity agenda.