He is described generally as pungent in his postulations, articulated in his adumbrations, and vivacious in voicing his opinion and analysis of public interest. On the home front, however, the acclaim is that he is affable, compassionate and accommodating when relating with his kinsmen and women. Iganima Jack-Manilla Pepple is an opinion leader, politician, entrepreneur and Knight of St. Christopher (KSC).

In this interview with the Publisher of Kristina Reports in his home in Olom Abalama (Oguede) Community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, he responds to the recent story of a native of Finima Community being assaulted in Oguede, the chieftaincy debacle in his chieftaincy house, Jack-Manilla Pepple House, amongst other issues. Please enjoy!

Kristina Reports: Your community has increasingly become an economic hub with vehicles and other kinds of equipment coming through your waterfront and sand business thriving at your sand dump at the Coconut Estate. This is why the recent story of a young man from Finima being assaulted when he came to buy sand there became a trending issue. Some say he was beaten up and was almost drowned, others say he was taken to an isolated place and questioned while another version said he was kidnapped; as one of the leaders of your community, you must have also asked questions among your kinsmen. What is the real story?

Iganima Pepple: Let me thank you for being explicit with your explanations in respect of my community. Fortunately for me, I got wind of it through my phone. I read it and I was very uncomfortable while I was in Port Harcourt. But because I love my community and love co-existence between brothers, chieftaincy houses and communities, I took the pains to dive into my community to do a proper assessment and findings to be sure of what the situation is before statements can be made. As I came, we had an emergency meeting of the Elders Council and most of the opinion leaders and we also invited some of the persons doing business around there both from my community and other foreigners. I tried to find out what transpired and at the end of the day we were able to gather the facts. It became necessary to grant this interview so that we can make it clear to everybody, especially, our brothers, the Finima people; so that they will be rest assured that we are one and the same people. They are the Brown Chieftaincy House and we are the Jack Manilla Pepple Chieftaincy House, ably led by our Monarch, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III, Edward I, Perekule XI, CON, JP, Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of Bonny Kingdom.

We discovered that because of recent happenings – we have had two persons kidnapped and passed through our axis and it became worrisome to us and we decided to put some security measures by reporting any suspicious movements to the security agencies as a way of curbing this menace. We discovered that the boy is a Brown House boy. He went to the sand dump and because he is not familiar with the area, they besieged him, trying to find out who he was. On one hand, he mentioned Brown and on the other hand he said he was from Ghana. It became worrisome and very suspicious to them; they wondered why is he answering two names? They questioned him to the point where it became very clear that he was from Finima and they let him go. We also found out that no particular elder intervened in that. Obviously, all that they claimed and wrote were mere fallacies. From our point of view anybody that beaten to stupor to the point where they want to drown you should be able to make a formal complaint to the police and photographs taken which will go a long way to authenticate what he claimed happened. But there was nothing like that. No arrests were made, no investigations; Police didn’t come there to investigate anything or ask any questions.

Oguede is a peace-loving community and you have people from all parts of the world around that sand dump. It is a verry popular place where you get sand, you get chippings and all that at the rate that is convenient for you or as you bargain. So, I was just imagining why the Brown House will put up such publication. I was worried because Dagogo Lambert Brown is a family friend. I can remember sometime ago when two of our boys stabbed our Asawo Sibidabo and he almost died. The matter was reported to the Police and the Police, in their wisdom, charged the matter to court as attempted murder. He called me on the phone and passionately appealed to me that they came to him in Finima and said he needs to talk to me; that I’m one man that can settle the issue. I listened to him and agreed with him because I have a very high respect for him. This was more than 3years ago. I obliged him and we came home and resolved it. They withdrew the matter from court. So, I was wondering why this time around – hearing that it’s my community – didn’t think it was nice to reciprocate same gesture. So that I will do my findings before saying these very serious, demeaning and disrespectful things about my community.

So, in your findings, the young man was not beaten?

No, he was not…

No attempt was made to drown him?

No.

And the Nigerian Navy which happens to be around there does not have any such information?

No report. You know that around that axis there is a checkpoint and what led to that checkpoint was the incessant kidnap and assault on people who pass through the sea; that is why you see the Navy there. In fact, we, the community, passionately appealed to them that there is the need to secure us because we gave them the land where they are settled now, which the whole Bonny knows. Honestly, it was worrisome, very worrisome.

One of your brothers, Harrigan Pepple, who said he is your Chief, claimed that preliminary investigation confirms that this incident actually happened and that the community condemns such act. You appear to disagree with him.

Well, it is laughable to hear Harrigan’s choice of words. Now, observe that Amanyanabo admitted Evans (Buoye Brown) into Chiefs Council, meaning he did not recognize Dagogo (Lambert Brown), and that is clear to everybody in Bonny. Now the same Amanyanabo has said the nomination of Harrigan did not meet the requirements of the custom and tradition of Bonny. So, the two of them have fallen out with the kingdom and with the throne. So, he (Harrigan) felt if he writes this now Brown people will see him as confirming that somebody was almost killed, somebody was almost drowned without fact finding and then maybe the two of them will team up now to do whatever, cheap blackmail, write on Facebook, disrespect the throne, disrespect the kingdom. Not forgetting that all of us are subject to His Majesty and we must accord him that respect because he is our King. So, Harrigan is looking for an alignment with Dagogo. We are Jack Manilla Pepple Chieftaincy House and we are prepared to live side by side with the Brown House because all of us are in one Kingdom and under one King. We don’t have two kings.

If Harrigan loves this community he will not go outside and grant you such interview, conceding to the fact that we are not peace-loving people, conceding to the fact that we have miscreants here. He’s not portraying the community in a good light. Honestly, he should have chosen his choice of words. You want to rule miscreants? How would you rule miscreants? There should be some level of consideration in your choice of words because this is your community where you’ll come back to. He doesn’t listen to leaders how they talk? You jump into writing, you jump into talking immediately, no fact-finding, nothing.

What if he has information that you don’t have?

I don’t know; I don’t want to delve into his source of information. What’s the information he has? If he has miscreants here, why not look for a way and get rid of them? Why not look for a way to empower them? Why not look for a way to assist them? Meanwhile, he’s also using them . He’s using them to cause every problem in this community.

So, you’re saying it is wrong for him to describe the youths of Oguede as miscreants? 

Yes. I am not surprised, though, because he’s desperate of becoming a chief. I was wondering why he is addressing himself as a chief. He understands the custom and tradition of how one can become a chief; if you are nominated, you will be capped or installed and then you will go for presentation to the Amanyanabo-in-Council. If he has a proof of his installation and capping then he should better put it on social media so That everyone can see.

But he bears Warialabo…

He will bear Warialabo because he’s desperate, nobody made him a Warialabo. Please, anytime you have opportunity to speak with him, ask him to show you photographs of how he was made a chief, his capping and installation.

If you were to meet Harrigan now, one on one, face to face, as his brother, as his kinsman, what will you tell him?

Firstly, I am prepared to meet him, let him choose a venue because this community cannot continue like this. Harrigan is above 60 years, I am slightly above 50, we are going but what are we leaving behind for those that are coming behind us? This community has suffered so much. When I meet him, I will say ‘look senior brother, I think it’s high time we have a rethink and do the right thing. We came with nothing and we will certainly go with nothing. Let us keep our pride and put the community as paramount, and make sacrifices so that this community can move forward.

Let us conclude with the plan of your community to improve the economic wellbeing of the people…

Firstly, I want to reiterate again that when you look at the sand dump at Coconut Estate, 90 percent of the people there are not from my community. If we’re hostile the way people are looking at it based on these ugly publications – even from the so-called Harrigan, who is claiming to be Chief but who is not a chief – we won’t have people flooding in and out of here. Strangers that are not from Bonny flooding in and out, making millions of money here. We are peace loving and will continue to be that way. That has been our watchword. We are not going to change irrespective of how they paint us because we know our beliefs, our traits, our culture. We will continue to allow people to come here and do their businesses but we also want them in the cause of doing their business here they should also try not to provoke us. They should also try to live side by side with us.

The last three incidents – the kidnap incident, the issue with the scavengers, and now this issue of the Finima young man – are all business related. Now, aside advising the people doing business, what structures are you putting in place to be able to monitor the area so that incidents that will bring negative publicity to the community are averted?

Well, you can agree with me that the question of security is not easy in this country, all over the country we have security situations; and you can see that in between the sand dumps you have the Navy base there, you have the checkpoint there. So, we are in between the checkpoint and the Navy. So, I think that’s enough security but even outside that, we also have our own little security. You can agree with me that security is also capital intensive. As per this one, the boy was seen – and he was not a regular face – roaming about for some time. Maybe, he is looking for somebody who will sell him sand or whatever. So, they intercepted him and tried to find out who he is looking for. One thing that called for suspicion was that on one hand he said Brown, and on the other hand he is from Ghana. If you are in the shoe of who is trying to find out the truth, of course, you will be mindful and more careful. You will want to decipher the reasons why he is calling Ghana and at the same time calling Brown. That is exactly what happened there. Nobody was hurt, nobody was touched. So, we will continue to do our bit as a community to make our presence felt. So that we will be able to sleep with our two eyes closed, God being our helper.