Finima is peaceful now – Community Leaders

Leaders of the contending chieftaincy houses, Buoye Omuso (Brown) House and Konibo ye Awanta (Tobin) House, say normalcy has returned to Finima Town in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Chairman and Secretary of the Elders’ Council of Tobin and Brown Houses, Dagogo Tobin, and Christopher Airigha Brown, respectively, told Kristina Reports that the issues under contention were already being resolved and calm has been restored.

Christopher Airigha Brown, speaking through the Chairman of the Ogbobiri-Asawo of Buoye Omuso (Brown) House, Tammy Martins-Brown, said the issue was a minor one involving the use of the gong (Ekere) to make announcements.

He said, though it has been the agelong convention for their sister chieftaincy houses, Tobin and Attoni, to request for permission before using the Ekere to pass around information, members of the Tobin House violated it and that led to a fracas between youths of both houses but it has now been brought under control.

Contradicting him, however, Dagogo Tobin stated that there was no such convention and challenged him to cite just one instance where anyone from either Tobin or Attoni had asked the permission of the Brown House to do such.

He regretted that members of the Brown House could resort to violence to enforce what was not in existence, urging all parties to sheathe their swords, and enjoining the Brown House to desist from engaging in actions that could undermine the relative peace existing in Finima.

Though Tammy Martins-Brown could not say when such convention was established or any instance of such happening, he insists that he grew up to know about it and that has been the practice.

The Divisional Police Officer for Finima, Bashir Kontagora told Kristina Reports that the Nigeria Police and the military had to intervene to prevent an escalation of the situation, disclosing that no arrests were made as the law enforcement agencies preferred arbitration as the best option given the familial relationship between the contending parties.  

“You know these people are brothers and we also don’t quite understand what is behind the misunderstanding. So we rather talked to both parties and dispersed them. No arrests were made and right now there is calm in Finima.”

On his part, Tobin said “the three houses in Finima are autonomous and independent of each other, just as every other chieftaincy house in Bonny Kingdom as clearly enshrined in the Bonny Constitution. So, why would one house ask another to come obtain permission from them before making an announcement with the Ekere to summon their own people?”

“We are a peaceful people and we have intimated the relevant authorities about the development and we are confident they would get to the root of the matter. We can’t fight with our brothers. We are all one in Finima and should avoid falling into the temptation of stoking crisis where none exists.”

His position was corroborated by Tammy Brown, who advised the youths of Tobin House to resist the temptation of resort to violence, noting that the issue of using the Ekere is a non-issue that can be sorted out between brothers where there is an understanding, adding that violence does not solve problems.

Checks by Kristina Reports showed that normalcy has returned to the peaceful oil-rich community, which sits comfortably on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.