Soft-spoken, calm and collected and very pungent with issues, His Royal Highness, Aseme Alabo Dagogo Lambert Brown, the Chief and Head of the Buoye Omuso Brown House (BOBH) and Amadabo of Finima spoke to Kristina Reports on issues associated with a recent ruling of a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt which emplaced a four-pronged restraining order on his fellow contender for the stool of Omuso (chieftaincy of Buoye Omuso Brown House), Evans Clement Buoye Brown.

In this interview with the Publisher of Kristina Reports, Godswill Jumbo, he appealed to various stakeholders referenced by the court int eh said ruling to abide by the court’s decision, calling on the people of Finima to unite and pursue the developmental aspirations of the community. Enjoy the excerpts:

Kristina Reports: Recently, we understand there was a ruling by the court in Port Harcourt on the issue of the Buoye Omuso Brown House, can we have an insight to this?

HRH Aseme Alabo Dagogo Lambert Brown: Yes, we actually, as the house and the community, went to court when after my installation and pronouncement in Finima as the Chief and Head of Buoye Omuso Brown House and the Amadabo of Finima, we had some insurrection of an imposter that is coming from the Bonny end, who claimed to have been recognised and installed by the Bonny Chiefs Council and the Amanyanabo-in-Council, so to speak. We can’t have two chiefs in one house and moreover, the Brown House has never in times past or in history made a chief from Hart House to Bonny Chiefs Council, never! So, we had to seek the intervention of the court to redress that issue and our prayer is an injunction to be granted us against the impostor, Evans Brown, so that we can legitimately follow the process to a logical conclusion.

What actually were the specific orders given and what are the implications on all parties concerned?

Based on the order that has been granted by the court, we expect that the government, non-governmental agencies, the security community in Bonny Island, all the IOCs in Bonny, including NLNG, Shell, Chevron, Mobil, Total, BelemaOil, Bonny Chiefs Council, and the Amanyanabo-in-Council should abide by this order because trying to work against this order or acting in impunity may result in a breakdown of law and order in Finima, which I want to avoid. Finima is key to the Federal Government. Finima is key to the State Government, whenever there is any industrial unrest, it results to unreliability on the operations of the companies in the land, which we want to make sure that does not happen. So, if everybody respects the law, then truth is there’s going to be peace, and that’s where I expect the security community to make sure that they ensure compliance to this order.

So, in effect, the person against which this order was given cannot attend the Chiefs Council meeting, cannot act in any capacity, is that what…?

By this order, we do not expect any form of gathering or meeting to be attended by Evans Brown. The attitude in terms of causing confusion or provocative acts and attitudes that will warrant apprehensiveness would be deemed as contempt and we will not seize to draw the attention of the court once we notice or observe that the order is being violated.

Looking at this resort to the legal environment to have clarity on this issue, what would have been the core motivation for this?

Well, as far as we are concerned, their action constitutes a huge aberration to our customs and traditions and what we have inherited from our forebears is clearly opposed to what we are seeing playing out in Bonny Kingdom and in order to maintain the sanctity of our traditions and customs, we have to make sure that we get things straightened out and this ruling has now brought us back to the status quo; so that going forward, the entire world, the Bonny Chiefs Council,  the government, the companies will know that we are back to status quo and the status quo is that my position as the Chief and Head of the Buoye Omuso Brown House and Amadabo of Finima is sustained by the court to be the Head of this leadership in Finima.

So, if I understand you, it’s not about yourself or any individual, you only want to sustain a legacy that has been transcended over generations to you in favour of coming generations. Now, given that, what is it you want to tell the Finima Community, the Brown House, Tobin House, Attoni House and Bonny LGA, as a whole, going forward from this injunction that has been issued now?

Yeah! Based on the injunctions that have been issued set or restraint on Evans Brown from parading or presenting himself in any manner whatsoever as the Chief of Brown House, what it has said to us is as a community, we want to make sure that we maintain the sanctity and repute of our customs and tradition and in Finima to make sure that we have the desired peace and maintain industrial harmony, particularly, with Finima being the landlord and host community of the IOCs. We also have our brothers in the Tobin, Attoni, Adum House as the sub families, this is an opportunity for us to come back to the drawing table. While the court is doing their thing to make sure we leave as one, we really need to understand ourselves; we all in Finima, we are like the tongue and the teeth in the mouth. Tobin, Attoni and Brown, we are all set up as Finima people. It’s an opportunity, I want to advise that let all of us come together and see how we can take the community from where we are to the next level and what God has prepared for us.

Before we let you go, talking of the next level, what is it that the people of Finima in particular can look forward to?

When you talk of next level, you know Finima has not been so recognised or given that place particularly by our brothers in the neighbourhood. As key stakeholders in the kingdom, we want to make sure that going forward, that Finima is recognised, you know as a significant stakeholder in the kingdom’s development issues. As far as developmental issues are concerned, Finima is not in a place that should be undermined. So, that is the next position we want to place Finima in the globe, make sure that we get, attract foreign investment opportunities to Finima to see how really big the place as an attractive tourist centre to the world. While some people are talking about Dubai vision, we are talking about the Singapore vision.