As the controversy over the management of employment opportunities in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State rages on, a stakeholder in Finima Community and senior citizen of Buoye Omuso Brown Major House (BOBH), Soala Brown added his voice to provide some insight into the issues under review.
To him, employment issues are predicated on and should be abdicated for the government to manage instead of allowing youths as is being done in Finima Community by the Finima Youth Congress (FYC). Furthermore, he insists he was at the centre of the issues relating to employment in Finima and Bonny LGA and as such has a strong locus to intervene on the issue and provide guidance. He spoke with Kristina Reports Publisher, Godswill Jumbo in Bonny recently. Enjoy the excerpts!
Kristina Reports: Good morning, Sir, please may we meet you?
Soala Apiafi Brown: Yes, my name is Soala Apiafi Brown from Buoye Omuso Brown House in Finima; yes, on the faction of Chief Se-Alabo Evans Clement Buoye Brown, that’s me.
Okay when you say faction, what we know is though there are two chiefs Brown house, but there is actually no faction, you are like the first person I’m meeting that is saying you belong to any faction.
You see, the world must be told the truth, you cannot blindfold somebody, when you have two Chiefs in a family, it presupposes that there must be factions, so to come out openly to tell somebody that we have two chiefs in one family yet there is no faction is like starting a story with a lie, you are lying to your audience, to be frank my dear brother, in the Buoye Omuso Brown house today as we speak, there is a faction and this faction stems down from the appearance of two chiefs right now. I, Soala Apiafi Brown, I’m on the side of Se-Alabo Evans Clement Buoye Brown who is from the ruling lineage and because of that singular truth I’m on his side.
Recently, there has been this uproar, kind of, two of your brothers, your former Asawo Chairman and a former Finima Youth Chairman granted interviews claiming that the employment system as you had it in Finima has now been skewed because of the Local Government Chairman. What was the arrangement? How were you managing the 40% employment chances that come to Finima from the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre?
Thank you very much. I think my attention was drawn to the interviews done with your organisation and there are a lot of issues to be corrected and put straight. They mentioned 40%, Government House, what the government said and all that; let me tell you that in the year 2002, I was elected Finima Youth Chairman, that’s talking about 20 years ago, when we had an agitation which took us to Government House. The then Governor, Dr Peter Odili delegated the matter to his deputy, Sir Gabriel Toby, the three service commanders were there, including the police, the commissioners, Bonny Chiefs Council representatives, Chief Buowari Brown, and the rest of them were there. I was the Finima Youth Chairman at that time and I was the only person who spoke in that matter. That meeting was only to discuss the issue of 40%. Let me put it down here on record that we did not go there because we were agitating for 40%, No! I was the spokesperson, it was my entire idea, we all went there, I led them. 40% was not the issue, because that was already a given constant. We got 40% right from the time of retired Major Tolofari when he was the Chairman of Bonny Local Government Caretaker Committee under the military administration. That was when we had this 40/60 arrangement – Bonny, 60, Finima, 40. So, this 60/40 you are hearing was not a new creation, it has been there right from the time of retired Major Tolofari as the Caretaker Chairman of Bonny LGA; it was at his desk that the arrangement was done. So, our going to the government that 2006 was not because of 40% but because we wanted that our 40% to be given to us by the companies directly, instead of going to the bureau.
In other words, Finima with the three families wanted to have their own employment bureau because of what happened to us at that time in Finima. There were some unclear manipulations either by the reps or the employment bureau, maybe they were shortchanging us. But there were some games there. So, we needed a situation where the companies will give us our own from source and give that of Bonny to Bonny. But, unfortunately, in the wisdom of the Deputy Governor and the committee that time, it will not be better to polarise what the kingdom has done. Then it was BKEB (Bonny Kingdom Employment Bureau) and they argued that if we have a bureau and, of course, our 40% was axiomatic, it had been proven, nobody is contesting that. The only thing is that the manner in which it was coming was questionable. So, the Deputy Governor and the committee now said the company should give us their own 40%, the understanding is that the companies were not one, TSKJ, Daewoo, Bouygues, and the rest of them. If they are bringing out employment, how do they determine 40%?
They felt it will not be easy for the companies to do that, therefore, let it continue to go to the BKEB then, as a clearing house, then from there, we should get our 40%. However, in order to appease us they now made an appeal to the Bonny Chiefs Council and the government, because the Bonny Kingdom Employment Bureau at that time was a creation of the Kingdom and the Local Government in order to manage the employment. They now appealed to them that, in subsequent appointments as you dissolve this present one now, try to appoint a Finima son the chairman of the Bureau in order to give the Finima people a sense of belonging. At that time the chairman of BKEB was Sir Idabelema. So, they said when the tenure of Idabelema and his team expires, please in subsequent appointment, and if you watch well, the moment Sir Idabelema’s tenure ended, the next succeeding chairman was Amaopusenibo Vivian Brown, and after Amaopusenibo Vivian Brown it went to some others then came again to Finima. As we speak, two Finima sons have been chairmen of the Bureau, that is to say the Bonny Chiefs Council and the Local Government are being compliant to what the government said. So, you can see that the issue of our going there, was not the issue of 40% to be given to either youths or adults or kindergarten, No! It was that let us get it from source but then it was not possible.
But your immediate past Youth Chairman, Charles Brown, told us in his recent interview that it was Rodaford.
No, to be frank, it was not Rodaford at all. It was at Rodaford’s time, that this agitation by Finima people took place. At that time Finima and Bonny were under one divisional police station. The then DPO of Bonny was Omojola; he and Rodaford Longjohn managed the situation to ensure that it was not volatile, to ensure that it did not break down to violence because of the presence of the multinational facilities. It was from there the matter now went up to Port Harcourt. It was not Rodaford. In fairness to him, he’s alive today. I also see them pouring encomiums and praises on Rodaford today just because the present Chairman of Council has decided to do what is legitimately right; and because that which is legitimately right is not in their favour, they are now calling her names.
What do you define as “what is legitimately right”?
Fine, right now, in every land and clime, employment is strictly a government business; that is why the government at the very tier – federal, state and local government – all have Ministry of Employment, Labour and Productivity. Employment is strictly a government business. In Bonny, because of the advent of multinational activities, the Bonny Kingdom in synergy with the Local Government said ‘how do we manage this employment thing for the betterment of our teeming people?’ Then the local government and the kingdom synergised and formed the BKEB; after the BKEB, it was now modernised from the experiences which they had gotten to Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre. Employment is on house/family basis. We have 35 chieftaincy houses today in Bonny and these chieftaincy houses share from whatever allocation that comes to the Bureau which is the clearing house.
Let’s drift a bit…Darlington Tobin was at one time the PRO at the Bureau, who nominated him?
Of course, the Tobin House. I don’t know who nominated him, as at that time, late Chief Young Tobin was alive. I don’t want to dabble into that. Employment is not a youth thing, the way somebody is trying to paint it now. After all, it’s not only youths that work. I am over sixty but I’m working. The Perm Secs are working, the chief executives of companies are working, they are not youths. But we know that a percentage of the workforce are youths; a chunk, but that does not make employment an exclusively youth thing the way some persons ate trying to paint it, no! Employment is only meant for people who are employable and have the capacity to work. If you are resourceful now, you’ll be employed, it doesn’t matter whether you are a youth or a kindergarten or an adult. So long as you have the resources and energy in you and you have the capability, you’ll work.
The way the Bonny Chiefs Council, the traditional institution and the political institutions fashioned out their employment Bureau, it is their creation. They have given it terms of reference, ‘look, we created you, this is how we want you to work and, of course, you’ll work according to what your creator said you should do. Now, the employment thing is family by family. All the 35 families in Bonny Kingdom all have youth bodies, the Tolofari youths, the Allison House youths, Pepple House youths and the Brown House youths. Everywhere they have youth bodies but the youth bodies are not in charge of employment. If the employment thing were to be an exclusively youth thing, maybe the youths would have said ‘okay look, you people handle it’. Again, there’s an umbrella youth body in Bonny, the Bonny Youth Federation (BYF). The BYF never meddles with employment matters, you can check and confirm. So, all these are telling you that the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre is not a youth thing, it is for employment. Every chief recognised by the Kingdom, of course, this is a kingdom creation, you make a representation, a nominee that goes to bring your house quota to you whether the person is educated or not. Whether it’s youth or an adult, that is your cup of tea so long as you are not shortchanged and at the end of the day what is due your house comes to your house.
Now, taking you back again, after we finished at the Government House that fateful day in 2006, when the government made these truce between us and the BKEB then, Chief Yibo Brown came back home as the Chief of Brown House that time in council, he nominated three persons as employment bureau reps. One Omubo Brown, alias Daraph, was one time an employment bureau rep, nominated and sent by late Chief Buowari Brown. Gogo Ashley Brown, at a time also was an employment bureau rep, nominated and sent by the late Chief Brown. Also, one Ibanibo Orumbie was also a nominee, chosen and sent by late Chief Yibo Brown.
Were these people youths as at the time they were nominated
Of course, yes, to be able to run the errand, to be able to go and come, you must be agile, yes. So, whether they are youths, kindergarten or adults does not mean anything, what we are saying is who nominated them. Then again as a second point to buttress, I was Finima Youth Chairman from 2002 to 2006, that’s four years; at no time, did I hold any election to choose who will go and represent us. So, what are we saying?
So, it was always the chiefs?
Yes, the Chief, I had, at no time, under my leadership as Finima Youth Leader brought out anyone and say go and represent us, no! There’s no record to show. I’ll get to the point where the whole seeming mistake, shabbiness and cloudiness came about and I’ll clear it. Now, in 2014, Chief Yibo kicked the bucket and from 2014 to 2022, that’s eight years, the Brown House didn’t have a chief and within this period of interregnum, when we didn’t have a chief, the youths became prominent. It’s only allowed, nature doesn’t allow vacuum, so the youths became prominent. But that prominence of the youth was as a result of this interregnum, when there was no chief, now that a chief has surfaced, recognised by the kingdom in the capacity of Se-Alabo, he plays his role. Now playing his role is being seen by those who had been benefiting one thing or the other within the eight years as wrong. But things must be done the way they’re supposed to be done.
Now, there are two chiefs – we won’t say claimants because they didn’t make themselves chiefs – they are Dagogo Lambert Brown and Evans Clement Brown. They are both substantive chiefs of the Brown House until the court decides which should stay and which should step down. Now, given the situation, if a nomination comes from any of them and the government recognises that nomination, wouldn’t that place the government in a position of bias?
Okay fine, I appreciate this question. Now look at this, remember that we are talking about an institution which is a creation of a concert between the Local Government and Bonny Kingdom. They created this committee and said this committee, manage this thing for us; these are your terms of reference while you do that job which we have sent you. Consequently, one of the chiefs to use your words is recognised by the kingdom in its wisdom – leave what the court will say tomorrow, the court can say it didn’t recognise him, no problem – but for now, the kingdom recognises one and the kingdom has every right to tell its creation, its agency to deal with this person because if the kingdom does not do so, it is shooting itself in the foot. I recognise this Chief as Se-Alabo for the kingdom. This institution is a creation of the kingdom, therefore, please don’t be confused, work with this person. So, you can now see why it seems as if Chief Se-Alabo Evans is having an upper hand. It’s because of his recognition by the Kingdom. You see that the other chief is not the recognized by the Kingdom and you don’t expect the Kingdom to deal with somebody they don’t recognise.
But Gift Tobin, the person that was sent to the recruitment centre from Tobin House, is he actually nominated by the Finima Youth Council to represent the Finima Community?
No, it’s not Finima rep, it’s Tobin House rep.
So, there’s nobody called Finima rep?
No, there’s nobody called Finima rep, that is the truth I want us to understand.
Okay, is it true that there are two representatives for the Brown house, 1 from the Chief Dagogo Lambert’s side, and another person, I think Saint Kalada from Chief Evans’ side?
Prior to the emergence of Se-Alabo Evans Buoye Brown, there could have been from the Brown House but since his emergence and recognition by Bonny Kingdom, automatically, Bonny Kingdom tells her agency who to deal with which is normal and since then till today, the representative of Se-Alabo Evans Buoye Brown is Saint Kalada. He is the person there now. Now, the agitation from our brothers from the other side of the Brown House, they are hiding under the facade of Finima Youth Congress. It is not Finima Youth Congress, it is Brown that is talking under the masquerade of Finima Youth Congress. Let me make this thing clear now, all the interviews that you have been granting concerning employment before God and man, have you seen any Tobin man grant you interview? Have any Attoni man, whether kindergarten, youth, grandpapa grant you interview? It has always been the voice of either one Tamunotonye Martins-Brown, one Charles Brown or one Soala Brown, true or false? So, it now tells you that look at this thing, remove the mask, they keep calling it Finima Youth Congress to use it to attract sympathy to say it’s Finima, when it’s not Finima. The Tobins are enjoying their allocation, the Attonis are enjoying their allocations. What is causing the problem? it’s the Brown House allocation, whose representative is from Se-Alabo Evans Clement Buoye Brown today is recognised.
So, what you are saying is that the Local Government Chairman directing, whether directly or by proxy, that the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre deal with the nominee of Se-Alabo Evans Brown being the Chief recognised by Bonny Kingdom was the right thing to do in the circumstance?
Yes, exactly, in fairness to the poor woman. Recall that I said somewhere along the interview that the BKEB now modified and called BIRC, is a creation of a concert of efforts between the Bonny Chieftaincy Council and the Bonny Local Government because employment is still a government thing. So, the traditional council cannot do it all, they leaned on the local government or any person who is in charge, to say ‘please, partner with them and do this thing, to give it credibility’. Therefore, what she has done is to ensure that the right thing is done. Look this is a Bonny woman, she understands Bonny customs, so she knows the one that is authentic whether there are three or four or five or 20 chiefs. She is not from USA or Ghana. If you look at nominations into the bureau, one of the institutions brings the chairman, the other institution brings the secretary. Therefore, the person who gives you an assignment tells you how to carry out the assignment.
Now, one of the allegations against the Local Government Chairman is that aside the employment issue is that Finima is being marginalised by the government.
No! I’m mentioning names now, one Ibikiri Brown, alias Blacky, is a Supervisor for Agriculture for Brown House, even in the Employment Monitoring Committee, there’s also one Boma Goni Brown, a member, and these are her appointees, direct appointees today, drawing salary or whatever from her.
So, this particular two, where do they fall, Dagogo Lambert faction or the Evans Clement faction?
Pointedly, the one in the Employment Monitoring Committee, unknown to her, because it’s not her business, falls within the Dagogo Lambert’s faction, the Boma Goni Brown, I, Soala Brown is telling you that he falls in the Lambert’s faction.
This Boma Goni Brown, is he related to the Secretary of your Council of Elders?
Yes, and yet they are calling her names. You see, she appointed him, she can dissolve that committee tomorrow and reconstitute because she appointed him, so is she was biased against us then why do that, you see the truth of the matter of course maybe is a human nature but bad human nature, when a particular person in office, takes the decision that hurts you, you’ll want to call it more bad names but when once that decision favours you, oh he is a good person, years ago when Rodaford Long John, I’m happy he’s still alive today, the chairman of council, some Finima persons, not all anyways and even some Buoye Omuso Brown house persons were calling him bad man, how he didn’t help Finima, how he was not a good leader but today I’m happy he’s alive to see this same turn that one said about him, he still good, bravo, I’m sure you’ll be happy I say ehhh, you have seen that I’m good today, I’m also appealing to the Dame Mrs Anengi Barasua, the present chairman of council, please let her temper justice with mercy, ignore them, a couple of a few years to come now, they’ll call her good names so let her not be perturbed at all, because she took a decision and stood by it, let me tell you one very stunning thing you want to know now, on the 8th of August, this august that just passed on the 8th, because of all these problems, this other boy’s brother from the other faction of Brown house, under Dagogo Lambert, keeps going to the induction centre, to disrupt induction, because those persons to be inducted for jobs, were shortlisted by Saint Kalada of course, she won’t tolerate that kind of nonsense in that area, if you have any problem, do it in your place, don’t bring it to that induction site, but over a time, her wisdom, she called, Se-Alabo Evans Clement Buoye Brown, called Lambert to her office for the 8th, just imagine, for the 8th focused and said gentlemen I know that you are already in court, various cases in court, I’m not discussing your chieftaincy matter, but on this issue of employment, please and please, let there be a truce for now until the court has decided on the matter.
She did that?
Yes! She did that, anyways you’ll find out, she now said look, I have some suggestions to make, so that we can manage the situation until the court comes out with their decision, now that Saint K is there, please will you give me one person Lambert, to partner with Saint k, let the two of them so that any share that comes from Buoye Omuso Brown house, let them share it fifty- fifty for now, in her wisdom, that was truce enough for now, she now asked them, what do you have to say, Se-Alabo Evans Clement Buoye Brown said well, as bitter as it seems, but because you have said so, I will swallow it as a bitter pill, Dagogo Houses said over his dead body, if not the was he wants it to be..(0:49-51) well, that was how that broke down, do your verification and vindicate that poor woman.
So, you are saying from your own point of view, the current chairman of the Bonny Local Government, Dame Anengi Barasua Wilcox has actually been altruistic to the people of Finima community centrally to the allegation of marginalisation?
Honestly, you see, the hue and cry, hullabaloo, all the noise are just from those persons, who feels that they have not been favoured, by the present situation of employment now, you see and I don’t want you to say Finima people, please do not say Finima people, a faction of the Brown house people, because I’m a Finima man, the Tobin house is also….( 1:47- 50) so not Finima people, it’s a faction of the Brown house, that faction that is loyal to Dagogo Lambert that us seen now as a …( 1: 58) I’m a Finima man, so are others and we see her as a good person, you may say her decision has favoured us, whatever but she is not as bad as they are painting her, if you recall back to what I told you some few minutes ago, on the 8th of August, do your findings, and this decision, this meeting was held in the presence of the Finima DPO, okay I think in the presence of either the Finima DDO or Bonny DPO were there, the SIB officer of Bonny ( Special Investigation Bureau Officer) Bonny, one Prince was also there, civil defence was there, these service chiefs so to speak, were all there, so you can also ask them what was the highlight of the decision of the chairman of council on that fateful day, 8th of august, what was the suggestion she profiled and who embraced it and who didn’t, and then do whatever thing you want to do it.
But given what you explained now and all of that, that employment is sole prerogative of the government and everybody should be able to align with the government to do what is right and that the local government chairman has not been antagonistic to Finima interest, so what will you like to advise your kins men, now like you are saying, the faction that, the Brown house faction loyal to Dagogo Lambert, so what will be your advice that given the circumstance because looking at it, even post the court judgment, whatever the court is going to rule, we will still have employment issues, so it’s not tied to the chieftaincy issue because Finima will continue to exist and the three houses will continue to exist, so what will you advise whether those of the Dagogo Lambert’s faction or the People on the Evans Clement faction , what will you advise?
What I’ll advise if you ask me is fairness, you don’t afford to win all the time in your life, there are times when certain decisions will go opposite your way, there are times when decisions will go your way, because a particular decision at a particular time did not go your way does not mean the end of life for you, you win some, you take some, if now, government has taken decision and that decision does not seem to favour them, take it easy, be compliant and then see how tomorrow will turn out to be, then for the Se-Alabo Evans’ side, my advice to him and of course the representative there. Saint Kalada is to ensure that you are not venomous, don’t drag your enmity its end, be accommodating, so long as the person is a Finima person, duly registered with you, please give him job and have a record of it, so that tomorrow, it can speak for you, there is no point you know marginalising, antagonising ourselves, if he does that up to his god but let him not do it.
Okay, thank you very much, Sir.
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