Recently, Finima Community has been in the news for crisis which has been brewing between the Buoye Omuso (Brown) House and Konibo ye Awanta (Tobin) House which culminated in the seizure of the gong belonging to the latter by the former.

Embattled Chairman of the Tobin House Opu-Asawo, Agomienye Tobin spoke to Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Kristina Reports on the underlying issues, controversy surrounding his ouster by members of his executive, among others. Enjoy the read!

The last time you talked to us, you were the Chairman of the Opu-Asawo of Konibo ye Awanta (Tobin) House of Finima, but recently, a press briefing was held by the same body and someone else, Bara Tobin, introduced himself as the interim Chairman of the body. Did you resign? Were you suspended or removed? 

My name is Agomienye Balafama Mark Tobin. I was elected into office as the Youth Chairman of Konibo ye Awanta Opu-Asawo and that was in 2017. But to my greatest surprise, based on this ekere matter, that is what led to all these issues that are coming up now. Yes, I still remain the Chairman of the Opu-Asawo of Konibo ye Awanta (Tobin) House. For him to have come to make that press statement without informing me, I am wondering because I don’t know if he is being pushed by some of the elders in the house; because in a house where there is no unity there will be no progress. I have been doing my best to make sure that we foster peace in the community and to make sure that we live in peace. But maybe some of the elders felt that he can be better if he is attuned to use him to achieve their aims. But I want to say that I am still the Chairman of the Opu-Asawo of Konibo ye Awanta (Tobin) House.

Why do you think the elders would want to push someone to do anything against you?

It’s because when the issue of the ekere took place sometime in April, I think that time I was in town and they called me that our sister house, Brown seized our ekere that we were not supposed to knack ekere. I now asked why? That if we want to knack ekere to inform our people to come and collect their palliatives, there is nothing wrong about it. That is the only and rightful way for us to disseminate information to our people. But be that as it may, two wrongs cannot make a right. If the Brown House has asked them to stop not to knack the ekere, I ought to go and ask to know what is happening and not for us to go and start fighting. So, I called Tammy Brown, the Chairman of the Brown House Asawo. I called him the following day being Sunday and he said I should come to one Mr. Datom Brown’s car park that he is there so that we can discuss. I went to that place to see him to discuss with him. After discussing with him, he now said he will return the ekere that even when they were knacking the ekere he asked after me. What they told him was that my position is shaking. I don’t know what would warrant that talk of shaking. So, after discussing with Mr. Tammy Brown, he actually gave back the ekere to one of our youths who also came there to meet me that same Sunday morning, which means the discussion I had with him was peaceful and successful. But coming back home, my people now called me that I have betrayed. I don’t know what they mean by me betraying. Somebody called to know why our ekere was seized and to discuss peacefully to resolve the issue and everything was successful and they’re saying that I have betrayed. So, I don’t know how I betrayed. So, after which the next thing i heard was that the elders said they should move a vote of no confidence against me and remove me from office, which they said they have removed me. But how can you remove somebody elected into office? And as I speak, I have a mandate from my then chief before he died who gave me a mandate letter, after the election of our executive. And you now say you want to remove me for no just cause because I went to discuss a peaceful settlement of the ekere matter, and that is why they want to remove me. I don’t know which of the elders that has instigated such thing and such move for such action to be taken.

Who are the people that was asked to move a vote of no confidence on you and did they move any such vote?

I don’t know if they moved or not. They only told me that I am no longer their Chairman. I told them that they cannot tell me that I am no longer the Chairman, just like that.

Were these the youths?

Not the youths, at all just some of the members of our youth body and two of the exco.

That is the youth executives?

They’re not even people you will call the executives, some of the Opu-Asawo (senior youths); like Bara, Mieisoala, are not members of my youth executive. I brought them into the Opu-Asawo system as spokesman and acting secretary.

For the records, tell us who are the members of your executive?

I am the Chairman, the Vice Chairman is Fred, who was there…

That is Alfred Tobin?

Yes, Alfred Tobin, who was there during that press briefing that Bara made. And  I also have my Secretary, who was Gogo, before ever Mieisoala came in because Gogo was not having chance due to his work and we brought in Miesoala. And I also have my PRO and my Treasurer because we are five executive members.

And all of you were elected the same day? 

Yes.

Now, when this happened…this period you are talking about was there any meeting of the executive? 

No, there was not, but there was a meeting we held which not all the executive members were present in that meeting. And they now said they want me to explain why I went to discuss with Tammy Brown. I told them that my going to Tammy Brown was for the good of everybody because the first port of call for any man whenever you want to do anything is dialogue. So, I said let me hear from Tammy and know his reason for doing what they did and then also get the ekere. And as I went he also listened and we talked in a very cordial way and the ekere was released.

This meeting where this discussion happened, who summoned it…was it you or the Secretary?

It was based on…the acting Secretary who called me that we were supposed to hold a meeting at our Olom-Wari by 5pm to discuss some issues. So, I went to that meeting and when I got there, the acting Secretary was there with Alfred, the PRO and Bara were there. And then I met with them. They asked me questions and I told them, and after telling them they said that as it stands that they are moving vote of no confidence and that they are suspending me. That I was no longer going to be their Chairman, and I asked why? They said because I went to discuss with Tammy Brown. And I asked if I went to discuss anything bad with Tammy Brown; that I went to discuss a way forward and also to know what prompted them to seize the ekere. And reaching there too we discussed and we came to a cordial resolution of the matter and the ekere was released and everything went well. So I don’t see why they should say that I shouldn’t go there. They said I was supposed to go with my exco but I replied, that it was not a meeting of the exco. It was a one on one talk between Tammy and I to know what prompted what his people have done and I would like to know why. In response to which he explained himself. So, you don’t expect me to go with my exco because it was not a meeting of excos. It was on a personal basis that I went to meet with Tammy.

So, you think you are being victimized because of your efforts at making peacefully resolving and misunderstanding between the two house youth? 

Yes, of course. That is it, that is true because I feel that somebody is using them or somebody is trying to foment trouble or pursue his selfish interest, I really don’t know.

But on that day, did they pass a vote of no confidence on you? 

No, passing vote of no confidence the way I know must come from 2/3 of the Congress not from some members that are not executive, and asking me as “Chairman, that I will step aside first”. I asked step aside for what? Step aside on what basis? That was all they said that I should step aside first. That was all we discussed in that meeting which they don’t have that right.

Was what they said to you that day in agreement with the Tobin House youth Opu Asawo constitution?

That is even where everything baffles me because as I speak to you now, I have appointed a constitution drafting committee because the Opu-Asawo is just a new body that was formed in Tobin House. So, we don’t even have a constitution or byelaw. But I have constituted a committee that will draft the byelaw or constitution that we will be using. So, as we speak now, we don’t have a constitution. So, I don’t know on what grounds they are passing a vote of no confidence and saying that they will remove me.

But in the absence of a constitution, was there any form of understanding on what and what should be the standard operating procedure…like if this happens, this is what will happen, if that happens, that is what will follow?

No, no, no. nothing like that.

Why I am asking is that in the course of investigating the ekere incident, we came across an information that the Tobin House youth leaders were in crisis because of an employment racketeering issue, that there was an arrangement to work with the other houses to manage employment issues. Are you aware of that?

Well, I don’t want to go into employment matter, if I go into employment matter, it will bring more issues. So, I don’t want to speak on that because what they did on that employment matter was not the right thing to be done. I have never seen where elders will supervise employment for the youths when there are youths in the house. The main people that need the jobs are the youths. If employment comes, the youths have to look into it, and if any elder has interest, they indicate their interest and it will be given to them. But in this case, the elders hijacked the whole arrangement that the employment should be run and controlled by them which is not supposed to be. So, that is a separate matter for now but that is how that one is.

In the course of all these events, as a due process person who believes things should be done in the right way, have you made efforts to meet and talk with your House Chairman on all these issues?

Yes, he is aware of everything including all the (elders) are aware.

But have you had time to talk with him?

Yes, I had a discussion with him.

One on one? 

Yes. But he never said anything.

Why would he not say anything?

Why I said he never said anything is that he said to me that nobody can remove me, that I am still the youth chairman of Tobin House Opu- Asawo but surprisingly when this thing took place he never said anything. So, I don’t know his stand. So, since then I never want to ask him anything.

Now talking about the ekere incident, the Chairman of Brown House Asawo, Tammy Brown said that there is an agelong custom that has always been there that Tobin and Attoni Houses always take permission from Brown House before using the Ekere. Is this true?

No, for that one, I don’t think that is correct, but you see when certain things happen we as a people must try to look for a way to make peace not to bring more problems. But that shouldn’t have happened and has not been happening because if you want to pass information, how would you go and take permission from someone to do so? If that should be the case, then Amanyanabo will say anybody who wants to pass information should come and take permission from him before doing so. But all the same, what led to that issue is what I don’t really understand. But he said he asked the youth about me?  He said they were thinking that they were knacking ekere to bring another problem or whatever else and that was why they seized the ekere. But if actually I was informed by my people that they want to knack ekere, we would have done so and I would have also be on Grand and Tammy would have seen me on grand and also know that, we are passing information to our people to come and collect there palliative  And this thing wouldn’t have happened. But my people did not even inform me, as the Chairman of Opu-Asawo, that this is what they want to do. They just went and asked some youths to go and knack ekere and when the thing wants to bring problem they now went and called everybody in the house to come out which is not supposed to be so. This is because our main duty as youths in the houses is to monitor and guard against these things. If they want to knack ekere, we were supposed to be informed and we will stand and we will make sure we monitor everything and everything will go successfully and end successfully.

But by Bonny tradition, if the elders of the house, who are supposed to be in charge in the absence of a chief, ask somebody to go and knack the ekere, can we say it is very necessary to inform you first before they do so? If such a decision is made by the Brown House elders, which also does not have a chief, will you as the Chairman of Tobin Opu-Asawo send Tobin youths to go and stop them because Tammy Brown was not informed? 

Of course, I can’t do that, and that is what I am saying that he shouldn’t have done that without calling me to hear from me. 

But if the elders decide that somebody should go and knack the ekere to inform members of the house about something that is happening, can we say that is wrong? 

It is not wrong. What I am trying to say in effect from my own perspective is that if they want to knack ekere, they are supposed to inform me as the Chairman of the Opu-Asawo. ‘Agomienye appoint somebody, this is what we want to do. Let them go and inform everybody that we want to share our palliative.’ And along the line when they are knacking the ekere, when they will be asked who sent you to come and knack this ekere? They will say it is the youth chairman that sent us, that time I know that Tammy would have called me. But this one, when they went to knack the ekere, I don’t know what they would have said that made them to seize the ekere because I wasn’t there so I wouldn’t have known what they said that made them seize the ekere.

But by Bonny tradition and the way you have lived together for over 200 years now, Attoni, Brown and Tobin, is it a custom that one house will take permission from another house before using the ekere?

No, no, no.

There has been no instance of such?

No, not at all.

What do you think of these, in terms of peace building, if anything, a community should bond more together than be having fights in-between them?

It is not the right way; that is what I am saying. It is not the right way. That is why when I heard it, I had to call Tammy to ask him that ’my brother, this is what I heard that your people did. That why must it be so?’ He now asked me to come to a particular car park, that he is there. Where I went and met him and after discussing with him, he said they will release the ekere, which they equally released. After which we also came to agreement that since things are like this now, and that Finima Youth Congress comprises the three houses, Brown, Attoni and Tobin. That any time any of the houses want to knack ekere they should go through the youths and ask them to circulate the information on behalf of the various houses. If Tobin wants to do, they should go and tell the Finima Youth Congress, if Brown wants to do too, same thing, and same thing with Attoni. Since, we all have our own person as representative you will only pass through the person to go and inform your people that the house wants to pass this information. That is what I discussed with Tammy to foster peace and chart a way forward for peace to reign. So, I don’t know what led to the second ekere again because when they knack the second ekere that made them to fight I was in Port Harcourt, I wasn’t around. So, I don’t know what happened again in the second incident. It was over there in Port Harcourt that I heard it that they came out and wanted to fight, everybody carry machete and whatever. I don’t know what led to that one. But if people have agree to what we said this thing wouldn’t have happened.

Was there any time an agreement was made between the Brown, Attoni and Tobin Houses that perpetually Brown House will produce the Chairman, Tobin will produce the Vice, and Attoni will produce the Secretary?

Not perpetually

That forever?

Not forever because initially we had an agreement that Brown will bring the Chairman, Tobin, Vice Chairman, then Secretary, Attoni. In a cordial and mutual understanding, we also said that this will be rotated among the houses. Sometimes, if you really want peace to exist, you don’t use violence to get peace. This is something we have discussed, we have to play down these issues gradually, then, when it comes to the tenure issue we can discuss in a roundtable because when it comes to election, the Brown will win given that they are the majority in the community. There is no doubt about that one. Even if you join the population of Attoni and Tobin together, the Brown population is more than the Attoni and Tobin. Where we have a cordial relationship or understanding that if we do this thing like this, maybe this tenure, and after this tenure, other houses will go for this or for that we will rotate. I think we have to sit down and discuss it and come out with a better landing ground, not with fighting or violence or making problems. I don’t think it is something everlasting that Tobin will be going as Vice Chairman and Attoni will go as Secretary.

Given what is happening in Finima recently, don’t you think such arrangements will confer the perception of superiority on the Brown House that they are the owners or leaders of Finima? You know they are claiming that their Chief is the Amadabo cum Paramount Ruler of Finima and several other instances they have tried to assert their overlordship on the other two houses. Don’t you see that given the fact that because of their numbers if an election is conducted they will produce more votes than the other houses, they now force you to accept this arrangement? Don’t you think this kind of arrangement will strengthen the mindset that Brown House are the owners of Finima?   

They will not feel like that because, just like I said, in an election you can go and contest for any position you want and if they vote you in you win. If we can have that arrangement and say okay, Chairman comes from Brown, Vice comes from Tobin, and Secretary comes from Attoni, and PRO comes from Tobin, and other positions like that. Then we have that agreement and work on that one by the next election we can also sit down and rearrange it. But if they say okay everybody go and contest, if you are interested go and pick form and contest, the Brown House can cast vote for themselves and they will also win hole positions They can take all the seats because of their number. That is why I am saying we have to use wisdom and we have to also sit down and dialogue. We have to see reasons that if you try A, you have to also give opportunity for B., C and see if B, C, can also do better than A. that is how I am advising that they should go. If you come to Rivers State now and say okay it must be by election, Ikwerre will be producing governor every time that dose not mean that they are solely owner of Port Harcourt But under arrangement, they say okay in this election we zone it to this side, we zone it to that side. That is an understanding. The same thing we are supposed to play too in the youth  because if you say everybody go and contest, you see that they will sweep all the positions. I assure you that they will sweep all the positions from chairman to all the other positions. But if we can sit down and discuss that let this be like this, next time, we can equally sit down and discuss that let it be like that and go ahead and put in the constitution and the thing will also fly. You understand what I am saying.

So, for you, the way forward for peace and harmony to return in Finima is for the three houses to dialogue?    

Yes, yes, because dialogue is the only instrument that will bring peace. When you dialogue, every man has blood in his vein; we have the same blood flowing in everybody’s system. So, you must have feelings. So, no matter how bitter the other man is, there is no way we will talk and say ‘Nna, because of this or that lets allow it to be the way wey they are talking. Let’s do it like this or let’s do it like that. Dialogue is always the first thing every man should put in place for peace to reign before ever you talk about any other thing. It is when dialogue has failed that is when you apply violence but violence is not even supposed to be an option. We will try to be talking, talking, talking until a time when things will materialize and it will materialize properly. If you say you will not talk you are on your own. That is the thing. So, for me, I believe that dialogue is the only way to settle any problem anywhere because even during the Biafran war, Ojukwu and Gowon, what were they dragging? It was power tussle, leadership struggle? But they ended up killing a lot of Nigerian soldiers and after killing them they flew out of the country, came back and embraced saying no victor, no vanquished. But they have killed a lot of Nigerians. And then they came back and begin to enjoy themselves again. Then what is the essence of fighting? When they know that they can dialogue and come back on round table why don’t dialogue from the beginning? And avoid killing a lot of people destroying their families and everything. Is fighting supposed to be the first option?  I think the answer is no.

All the crisis that have come and gone in Finima have always had the youths at the centre of it. As a senior youth, what will be your advice to these young people?

Well, my advice to the young youths is this, for now, a reasonable youth should think of how to develop and empower himself, not to be thinking of how to go about to fight. Fighting will not solve problems. The only thing that can solve problem is to sit down and dialogue. And if anybody is being pushed by any of the elders of his house to go and fight, well, to me, that is not the best option because when you fight and along the line you lose your life, you are gone. Life does not have any duplicate. My advice to Finima youths entirely, the Brown, Attoni and Tobin, is that they should not allow themselves to be pushed by anybody. They should sit down and reason if it is right or not. And also toe the line of dialogue and talk about issues before they talk about going to war. War cannot save anything, war destroys. My advice is that they should desist from fomenting or causing anything that will bring problem or fighting because fighting can never, never solve problems, I am thanking all good youths of Finima for towing the line of dialogue.