…‘King Lawrence Odum Remains Amadabo Of Bakana’
…Spit Fire Over Alleged Malicious Publication Against
Rivers Judiciary, Their King By ‘Dissident’ Group
The Paramount Heads and Chiefs of the famous Barboy Group of Houses, Bakana in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State have stated for the umpteenth time that the Amanyanabo of Bakana stool is not in dispute.
The community leaders were reacting to an ‘advertorial’ in a Port Harcourt based newspaper sponsored by Engr. (Chief) Okiye Evans, Chief (Hon.) Ipalibo Braide, Chief J. J. M. Briade, Chief Dabo Dapper, Chief Otonye Boyle, Chief (Hon.) Ibiba Marion Braide, Elder Dakio Ikiriko, Elder Ibiye Fietebobo J. Peters, Chief Idama T. Dokubo and Chief Israel Abili which the Barboy Group of Houses described as not only unfounded and baseless, but also malicious, derogatory, contemptuous and defamatory to the Rivers State Judiciary and the person of their King, the Amayanabo of Bakana, King Lawrence Omieibimabo Odum Barboy, Amabibi (viii), Odum Barboy (ix).
More worrisome and shocking, the Barboy Group of Houses noted, was that those behind the publication are not members of the Barboy Royal House and have no right whatsoever to poke nose into an affair they have no right to.
A statement signed by Engr. Chief Monima Emine Barboy (Paramount Head, Emine Group of Houses), Chief Somoni Amabibi (Amabibi Group of Houses), Hon. Austin F. Braide (Ine-Sukuta Barboy House), Comrade Otonye Boyle (Karibo Barboy House), Pa-Kadiri Badu Don-Pedro (most elder, Odum Barbo Royal House of Bakana), Comrade Oba-amabo Braide (Obusiya Barboy House) and Chief Marshall O. Raleigh-Joe (Kombo-Agolia Group of Houses/Secretary, Odum Barboy Royal House of Bakana), representing all the Houses of Odum Barboy Group of Houses, confirmed that King Lawrence Odum’s installation as the Amadabo of Bakana followed the demise of late King Omieibimaba Orubuiyi Odum Barboy on 25th June 2019.
As the legitimate heir to the throne, the paramount heads of the Barboy Group of Houses said Chief Lawrence as then recognized, was selected and nominated from the Amabibi stock by four Group of Houses to succeed their late King. Chief Lawrence Odum was therefore installed as the Amayanabo of Bakana, Amabibi (viii), Odum Barboy (ix) Saturday August 16, 2020, having successfully undergone the traditional processes – Nama – Pele rituals which is a mandatory cultural practice and procedure of Bakana people for the confirmation of his eligibility and acceptability by the gods as a bonafide successor to the Bakana Chieftaincy Stool,”
Prior to the ascension of King Lawrence Odum to the throne, Rivers State High Court presided over by Justice Acho Ogbonna had in a judgement delivered in 2012 in Suit No. PHC/193/84, declared that the Odum Barboy Royal House stool is the Traditional and paramount stool of the Amadabo of Bakana, formerly Amanyanabo of Bakana. The court had also invalidated and nullified the selection of Kegan Igbanibo Will-Braide as a Chief of Bakana Town.
Subsequently, the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt also on 2016 ratified the earlier judgement of the lower court and dismissed the appeal brought before it by Diepiriye Igbanibo will-Braide in Appeal No. CA/PH/264/2004.
Also in 2017, Justice Monima Danagogo of the Rivers State High Court dismissed a Suit by Diepiriye Igbanibo will-Braide challenging the recognition of late King Omieibimabe Orubiyi Odum Barboy as the Amadabo of Bakana by the Rivers State government in Suit No. PHC/596/16.
While dismissing the suit for lack of merit, the court ruled that there was no chieftaincy tussle over the throne of the Amadabo of Bakana when the State government recognized and gazetted the stool.
Also recall that Hon. Justice G.C Aguma of the Bori Division of the Rivers State High Court had on February 19th 2020 delivered a consent judgment on the dispute over the Bakana Chieftaincy Stool in suit No: BHC/183/2019 between Chief Lawrence Odum Barboy and four others as Claimants against Mr. Preye D Lulu Will-Braide, Chief I.I Will-Braide and Engr. Okiye Evans as Defendants after parties in the suit requested the leave of the Court for out of Court settlement.
The Court had while delivering the judgment noted that the leave to settle out of court in the suit which came by way of originating summons was sought for by the parties and granted by the court on December 10th 2019.
The Court proceeded and adopted as judgment all four reliefs sought by the Claimants which include:
A declaration that the Defendants who are members of the Will-Braide House are not members of the Odum Barboy Royal Family by virtue of the judicial pronouncements in suit No: PHC/193/84, the dismissal of the appeals in Appeal No: CA/PH231m/04 and CA/PH/264/04, and judgment orders in DHC/38/2014 and PHC/596/2016.
A declaration that only a candidate selected by the Odum Barboy Royal Family of Bakana can legitimately be installed as Amadabo of Bakana by the unchallenged letter from the chambers of the Attorney General of Rivers State dated 21st July, 2008, the Police Investigation Report on the Bakana Chieftaincy issue dated 16th March, 2009 and the letter from the Bakana Council of Chiefs and Traditional Rulers to the Governor of Rivers State through the Amanyanabo of Kalahari headed Resolution on the dispute among contending Chiefs regarding the Amanyanabo of Bakana Stool dated 18th Nov, 2013.
A declaration that the selection of Chief Lawrence Odum Barboy as Odum Barboy (IX) and Amadabo designate of Bakana by the Kingmakers of the Odum Barboy Royal Family of Bakana is in order.
A perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants from participating, appointing or selecting an Amadabo of Bakana which is the sole responsibility of the Odum Barboy Royal Family of Bakana headed by the first Claimant Chief Lawrence Odum Barboy.
The Court judiciously noted in its judgment that the terms of settlement were duly signed by the first Claimant Chief Lawrence Odum Barboy and the Defendants.
The paramount heads of Barboy Group of Houses expressed dismay over the alleged malicious and libelous publication by those whom they said had no other intention but to foment trouble and crisis among the peace loving people of Bakana and by extension, disrupt the prevailing sense of love and unity put in place by Gov Nyesom Wike in all the communities across the 23 local government areas of the state.
The Odum Barboy Group of House also took exception to the part of the publication, where the signatories intended to link their king to a robbery incident that took place in Enugu State in 2011, calling it wicked and a calculated plan to tarnish the image of their King before the unsuspecting members of the public.
According to them, while in a hurry to give the dog a bad name in order to hang it, these guys who based their malicious allegation on a media report they stumbled into, were unaware that following the case of a mistaken identity, a magistrate court in Enugu had in June 2012, in charge No: MDN/2620/2012, Commissioner of Police Vs Odum Lawrence, dismissed and acquitted the accused for lack of evidence to sustain the charges against him.
While assuring that no efforts will be spared in bringing these “troublemakers” and ‘detractors’ of the State government to book through all legal means available, the Barboy Group of Houses have appealed to the good people of Bakana to remain calm and peaceful for which they are known, and the general public, to discountenance the contemptuous publication on Bakana Chieftaincy Stool as King Lawrence Omieibimabo Odum Barboy remains the one and only Amadabo of Bakana undisputed.
