“We are told to love our neighbours and enemies probably because they are the same people. It is further advised that when your neighbour’s house is on fire, try not to show much pleasure because what goes round will surely come around”.
In no other do these words of wisdom find better expression than in the case and circumstance of the Amadabo Chieftaincy Stool, Abuloma people and the people of Rebisi of Ikwerre extraction, all in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Distinct in language, customs and tradition, the Abuloma people and their Rebisi neighbours have been living together in their present place of abode for centuries though not without occasional frictions, disagreements and even wars.
Notwithstanding, wisdom and mutual understanding had always prevailed and the resultant effect is friendship, mutual and cordial relationship.
It is however instructive to note that the spirit of this commentary is not to hold brief for any of the two sets of people, or to poke nose into the often contentious ownership of the land.
That would be most unnecessary and uncalled for. But if historical claims are anything to go by, the Ikwerres have always traced their roots to the ancient Benin Kingdom while the Abuloma people, a clan in Okrika had traced theirs to Bayelsa through Abua/Odua and Bukuma.
The fact however remains that Abuloma Community had been in existence in their present place of abode for centuries and by 1245 had established one of the most formidable Stools (kingship) in their land. The founder reportedly died in 1285, after about forty (40) years on the stool. The Abuloma people were also unarguably here on the arrival of the Whiteman who made Okrika their Headquarters having found about 2000 people in the area.
In 1958, before the Nigerian independence, Abuloma was a District under Degema Province and have not left this vicinity ever since. History has it that they first settled behind Enitona, later moved to Rainbow before coming to settle where they are.
And true to the biblical instruction (Proverbs 27:10), “Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.” And again, according to Robert Frost, “Good fence make good neighbours”.
The Okrika people made up of 25 villages, some of which are in Abuloma and their Rebisi neighbours made up of five villages have occupied the area where they live as long as history can tell. But in 1913 hard cause to enter into Agreement on not only how to be good neighbours but also on their possible boundaries.
The fact however remains that while some of the Okrika Communities and parties to the Agreement are in the present day Okrika Local Government Area. Abuloma and others are indisputably in Port Harcourt Local Government Area.
Unfortunately, the Amadabo Stool of Abuloma, created alongside the Rebisi Stool by the Chieftaincy Law Cap 25 of the Rivers State Edict No.8, 1978 and further reaffirmed in the Traditional Rulers Law of Rivers State, 2015 and also captured in the Official Gazette of the Rivers State Government of No 21, Vol. 53, 2017 is yet to be recognized by the Rivers State Government, 45 years, after.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the existence of the Amadabo of Abuloma Stool has never been disputed as it has been readily captured in the Chieftaincy Law Cap 25 of the Rivers State Edict No 8, 1978, the Traditional Rulers Law of Rivers State, 2015 and the Official Gazette of Rivers State Government of 2017, No 24, Vol 53, traversing the Sir Dr. Peter Odili, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike administrations respectively.
In 2015, the Abuloma people were belatedly asked to produce its own king but such a nominee should be a neutral person not involved in politics. The lot incidentally fell on HRH, King Bright Ateke Fiboinumama, who was then serving the nation as a military officer.
A regent was then appointed pending his retirement to take over his mandate by his people. Upon retirement in 2016 as a Brigadier General of the Nigerian Army, HRH, Bright Ateke Fiboinumama was traditionally installed and coronated as the Amadabo (King) of Abuloma at a massively, rancor-free and well attended ceremony which took place at Abuloma play field without any atom of controversy.
Among the dignitaries that attended and witnessed the installation ceremony was the then Rivers State Commissioner for Community and Chieftaincy Affairs, and former lawmaker, Hon. John Bazia.
Following the apparently ‘good news’ from the Rivers State Government asking them to present their King and Traditional Ruler for recognition in 2015 and subsequent coronation of HRH, King Fiboinumama in 2016, several representations were made to the Rivers State Government through writing and personal contacts but to no avail.
Consequently, the Amadabo of Abuloma despite having been traditionally and publicly coronated as King, and having not been duly recognized and issued Staff of Office by the Governor of Rivers State according to the Law, has not been and cannot be admitted into the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers.
The implication is not only the denial of his rights as a King, but also tantamount to outright disregard and marginalization of the Abuloma Community and its people in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area.
As a knowledgeable people who are versed in law, it has not been lost on the Abuloma people that if ‘liberty and equality’ as postulated by Aristotle, one of the greatest minds that ever lived, and advocate of Democracy, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in a democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the Government to the utmost.
It is on this premise, that His Royal Highness, King Bright Ateke Fiboinumama, Chief Barr. Sunny A.T.G. Iwori, Chief Dr Adokiene Tam-Micah Igbile, Chief Princewill Blessing Otopo, Chief Engr. Maxwell L. Adoki Okein – Odo and Elder Tekena A. Douglas for themselves as members representing the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs, Abuloma Community War Canoe Houses, Elders and the Community Development Committee headed for the court to seek justice for this perceived injustice.
Sued in this regard were the Attorney-General of Rivers State, the Rivers State Governor, Rivers State Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers who on its own, joined as a party to the case.
Among the issues connected to the non- recognition of the Amadabo Stool by the Rivers State Government to which the plaintiffs sought determination include:
Whether by the creation of the Amadabo of Abuloma Stool, by the Chieftaincy Law Cap 25 of the Rivers State Edict No 8, 1978 and further reaffirmed in the Traditional Rulers Law of Rivers State, 2015, the Abuloma Chieftaincy Stool is not a recognized Stool?
Whether by the Traditional Rulers Law of Rivers State, 2015 and the Official Gazetter of Rivers State Government of 2017 in No. 21, Vol. 53, the Amadabo of Abuloma Chieftaincy Stool is not a recognized Stool in the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area to be accorded all rights and privileges of a recognized Stool?
Whether by the provisions of the Law, the occupant of the Amadabo Stool, King Bright A. Fiboinumama who was traditionally installed, coronated without controversy in the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, is not entitled to be recognized as King of Abuloma and qualified to be issued a Staff of Office by the Governor of Rivers State in accordance with the Law?
Whether HRH, King Fiboinumama as the occupant of the Amadabo Stool in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, not entitled to be admitted as part of the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers?
Whether the Ist Claimant being the Amadabo of Abuloma and the Head of Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs, is not entitled to be part of the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers?
And whether the refusal of the 3rd Defendant (Rivers State Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs) to present the Ist claimant to the 2nd Defendant (Governor of Rivers State) for recognition and issuance of Certificate of recognition and that the refusal of the 4th Defendant (Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers) to recognize and admit the Ist Claimant as Amadabo of Abuloma and his admission into the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers is not inconsistent with the Traditional Rulers Law of Rivers State, 2015 and Official Gazette of the Rivers State Government of No 21, Vol. 53, 2017?
It was against this backdrop that HRH, King Bright Ateke Fiboinumama and his kinsmen (Claimants) prayed the court for the following:
- A declaration that the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs is a recognized Divisional Council of Chiefs in accordance with the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Law, No. 4 of 2015 and the 2017 Rivers State Official Gazette in No. 21 of Vol. 53.
- A declaration that the Ist Claimant being the occupant of the Chieftaincy Stool of Abuloma and Amadabo of Abuloma should be recognized as such in the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers.
- An order mandating the 3rd Defendant to present the Ist Claimant to the 2nd Defendant for recognition as the Amadabo of Abuloma and issued its official certificate of recognition/staff of office to the Claimant.
- An order of mandamus mandating the 2nd Defendant to recognize the Ist Claimant and issue Staff of Office as Amadabo of Abuloma as anticipated by the Rivers State Official Gazette, 2017 upon presentation of the Claimant by the 3rd Defendant as King of Abuloma Community.
- An order mandating the 4th Defendant to recognize and admit the Ist Claimant as the Amadabo of Abuloma and as a member of the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers in accordance with the Law.
- An order mandating the 4th Defendant to pay all royalties due to the Ist Claimant from the date of his coronation as Amadabo of Abuloma till date.
To counter the claims and demands of the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs, the 4th Defendant that merely joined the suit as a party raised the rather embarrassing issues of Locus Standi of the claimants to sue.
The contention of the 4th Defendant (Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Chiefs) is that the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs did not have the Locus Standi to sue based on the settled Supreme Court judgment in Woluchem V. Gudi, arguing that the Abuloma people were declared customary tenant of Rebisis Community, and that the Amadabo Stool was erroneously included in the 1999 Chieftaincy Law of Rivers State and the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Law, 2015.
Lost to the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Chiefs was that the Woluchem V. Gudi matter was about the ownership of the land called Ozuboko by Elekahia people of Rebisi.
The disputed land case first came up in 1966 at the Port Harcourt Judicial Division of the High Court of Eastern Nigeria. The Elekahia people, in the Woluchem V. Gudi suit were the plaintiffs against the Abuloma people for allegedly trespassing or encroaching on their land. They demanded inter alia from the court the following declarations:
- A declaration that the plaintiffs (Elekahia people) are the owners and entitled to the possession, occupation and full use of all the piece or parcel of land known as and called ‘Ozuboko’ land situate in the Port Harcourt Province South of a Government acquisition known as the “Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout.”
- Damages for breaking into the land in the month of March, 1966 and causing damages by destroying several economic trees thereon, and desecrating the plaintiffs’ ancestral juju therein.
- An injunction perpetually retraining the defendants (the Abuloma people), their agents, servants and, or other representatives from further interference with the plaintiffs’ right, title, possession and interest in and over the said ‘Ozuboko’ land.
The trial court presided over by J. Alagoa duly considered the case and delivered judgement in favour of the Elekahia people which was overturned at the Appeal Court in favour of the Abuloma people.
The Elekahia people consequently headed for the Supreme Court which overruled the Appellate Court and restored the judgement of the trial court in favour of the Elekahia people.
Laughable enough, it was on the strength of this judgement pertaining ownership of the ‘Ozuboko’ land, that the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Chiefs relied on for their contention on Locus Standi of the Abuloma people to sue or go to court to seek redress for denying their people their traditional rights and non-recognition of the lawfully and traditionally constituted Amadado Stool by the Rivers State Government.
Rightly and expectedly too, the Hon. Justice Dr. David Gbasan led-court quickly pointed out that the decision in Woluchem V. Gudi case had nothing to do with the Stool of Amadabo of Abuloma being included in the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Law No. 4, 2015, and the first Claimant, being the one installed and coronated by his kin and kith in Abuloma Community as such.
The Supreme Court Judgement did not also state that Abuloma is extinct because they trespassed on ‘Ozuboko’ land of the Elekahia people.
More so, the judgement did not say that the Rebisi people had been ruling over the people of Abuloma, nor did it contain anything about tradition and customs.
The Court therefore jettisoned the contention of the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers as baseless and unfounded.
“The 4th Defendant has not proved such and cannot read into the case of Woluchem V. Gudi’s (1981) issues of Chieftaincy and inclusion of the Amadabo Stool of Abuloma in the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Law No. 4, 2015, not raised and determined therein. The reliance on customary tenant which the Supreme Court did not make any specific findings on and did not grant any relief on in Woluchem V. Gudi to deny the Claimants the right to be led by their own people as canvassed by the 4th Defendant is factually and legally untenable”, the court ruled.
The court thoroughly established and upheld accordingly that Abuloma is a Community/District in the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State, being a creation of the Law under the Rivers State Local Government (Amendment) Edict, 1985.
It is also an indisputable fact that every Community/District including the Abuloma Community, is made up of chiefs who are admitted into the body known by the name Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs with the Amadabo of Abuloma as the Head of the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs.
The Court described as an open wound not to accord the Abuloma people and the Amadabo Stool their due right as long as the local governments in Rivers State and their constituent communities are concerned.
The position of the court was hinged on the grounds that the Abuloma Chieftaincy Stool was lawfully created and captured into the Chieftaincy Law Cap 25, Rivers State Edict No. 8 of 1978 and was further reaffirmed in the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Law No. 4 of 2015 (as amended) and the Rivers State Official Gazette of 2017, wherein the Stool of Amadabo of Abuloma was recognized.
That HRH, King Bright Ateke Fiboinumama was traditionally installed and coronated as the Amadabo of Abuloma Community on the 6th of August, 2016, and that after his coronation, the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs forwarded a memorandum on the Chieftaincy Stool upgrade and issuance of Certificate of recognition and Staff of Office to the Governor of Rivers State dated the 11th of August, 2016, through the State Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and a further reminder on the 7th of December, 2018 which were not attended to, till date.
In summary, the court, after dispassionately listening to the arguments of Tonye Wilson, Esq for the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs and other Claimants, C. N. Eke, Esq., legal officer representing the Rivers State Government, the Rivers State Governor and the Rivers State Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, and D. O. Okoro, SAN, with G. S. Okuru, Esq for the joinder, Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers ruled as follows:
A declaration be and is hereby made that the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs is a recognized Divisional Council of Chiefs in accordance with the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Law, No. 4 of 2015 and the 2017 Rivers State Official Gazette in No. 21 of Vol. 53.
A declaration be and is hereby made that the Ist Claimant being the occupant of the Chieftaincy Stool of Abuloma and Amadabo of Abuloma should be recognized as such in the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers upon being recognized by the 2nd Defendant.
An Order be and is hereby made mandating the 3rd Defendant to present the Ist Claimant to the 2nd Defendant for recognition as the Amadabo of Abuloma and for the issuance of official Certificate of recognition/Staff of Office.
An Order of mandamus be and is hereby made mandating the 2nd Defender to recognize the 1st Claimant and issue him with Staff of Office as Amadabo of Abuloma as anticipated by the Rivers State Official Gazette, 2017 upon his being presented by the 3rd Defendant as Amadabo of Abuloma Community.
An Order be and is hereby made mandating the 4th Defendant to recognize and admit the Claimant as the Amadabo of Abuloma and as a member of the Port Harcourt City Local Government Council of Traditional Rulers in accordance with the Law upon his being presented by the 3rd Defendant to the 2nd Defendant and recognized by the 2nd Defendant.
Having so ruled, it is expected that this vexatious issue that has lasted for over four decades, be peacefully rested by according the Amadabo Stool of Abuloma the recognition it truly deserves among other traditional Stools in the State and Certificate and Staff of Office given to HRH, King Bright Ateke Fiboinumama to take his rightful seat at the Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers with all his denied benefits paid to him.
It is also commendable to hear that the Rivers State Government, the first Defendant in this case has done the needful by formally asking that the Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs resubmit their letter of request for recognition and issuance of Certificate and Staff of Office to their King notwithstanding the position of the 4th Defendant, Port Harcourt Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers that has reportedly appealed the judgment.
This is a commendable step and, or step in the right direction by the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and will go a long way to addressing the notion and disabuse the minds of so many who may be tempted to believe that the Amadabo Stool of Abuloma and the people of Abuloma are helplessly a victim of ethnic politics in Rivers State.
The people of Abuloma also need to be commended for their patience and not taking the laws into their hands all this long.
They have truly proved and lived true to William Borah’s widely acclaimed philosophy that, ‘The marvel of history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. And to His Excellency, “A man of courage is a man of his words as courage consists in equality to the problem before us”.
Long live Amadabo of Abuloma!
Long live Abuloma Divisional Council of Chiefs!
