As the controversy continues to rage over the purported installation of Tamunoala Chapp-Jumbo, various stakeholders in the Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny Kingdom have stood up to disclaim the development as a misadventure by the man who claims to be cleric and Senior Pastor of Immanuel Heritage Ministries International, Eastern Bypass, Port Harcourt. One of these is the family he claims to be his origin, the Igbiselagha Chapp-Jumbo family of Ayambo Community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.
In this expository interview with Kristina Reports’ Publisher, Godswill Jumbo, the Secretary of the Chapp-Jumbo family, Ernest Chapp-Jumbo, a retired Permanent Secretary in the Rivers State Civil Service, seasoned entrepreneur and astute community leader, bared the details of the man who has consistently claimed to be one of theirs. The family not only disclaimed his ancestry as not connected to them by birth, adoption, slavery or any other form of association but also revealed that he broke into their late father’s living room to have himself installed as Chief, albeit, according to them, illegally. It further informed that they have also taken steps to inform the authorities in Bonny Kingdom that they are not in any way linked to him or his alleged antics. Enjoy the excerpts:
Kristina Reports: Sir, can we get to know you?
Ernest Chapp-Jumbo: My name is Ernest Needham Chapp-Jumbo. I am a retired civil servant, I retired from the position of a Permanent Secretary in the Rivers State Civil Service in the year 2015. So, I am five years in retirement as of today.
If we go by your background, you said ‘Needham’, you are related to the great Needham?
I’m a direct son of late Needham Chapp-Jumbo of Ayambo Community in Bonny Local Government Area.
The late Needham, one of Bonny’s greatest contribution to Rivers State and Nigeria; obviously, you have a strong background in government, having risen to the height of a Permanent Secretary. If we go with that, it means you have some knowledge of how issues that have to do with leadership are supposed to flow. Will you agree with the notion that somebody needs to be properly founded within an environment, to lay claim to the leadership of that particular environment?
Yes, I agree with you because that is the truth. Like the Chief of Jumbo Major House…is unheard of.
Somebody claims to be your brother, your son and a member of your family and based on that, he’s making a claim to the stool of Okponkata and addresses himself as Okponkata X, and he bears the name; Tamunoala Chapp-Jumbo. When we heard Chapp-Jumbo and asked him, he said that is his family. Please, can we have clarity to that? Is he correct or not?
Mr. Tamunoala Chapp-Jumbo used to bear the name “Chika” as at the early 70s. Later on, he moved on to answer the name “Godspower Chapp-Jumbo. This issue of Chapp-Jumbo attached to his name is a recent development; he had never borne that name Chapp-Jumbo. It’s a new development. I knew him from infancy as Chika and later he started answering Godspower Jumbo, and somewhere along the line he also bore the name Alanengibo as a young boy in Ayambo. The issue of Tamunoala Chapp-Jumbo is a very, very recent development. Of course, our family is the Igbiselagha Chapp-Jumbo family, and we are so accommodating. We got to know in the early 70s after the civil war in the early 70s, when his mother came with him from the hinterland as a young boy, and we accommodated them in our community. He grew up in Ayambo here but it’s not to say that we have any biological link with him. We do not have any biological link with him because his mother is from the Ogba area of Rivers State, Omoku to be precise. She was married by my late aunt, Mrs. Lydia Dibi while in her husband’s house in Okrika.
When you say your Aunty married his mum, because our tradition allows it, did she, Mrs. Lydia Dibi, marry his mum into her home in Okrika or into her home in Bonny?
My Aunty remained married as Mrs. Lydia Dibi until her death, and so whoever she married belongs to her husband’s family in Okrika, not Bonny, because she had been given out to marriage by my late father and so she remained a bonafide member of the Dibi family in Okrika and even her only surviving daughter by the name, ‘Atelesika Dibi’, bears that name. So, whoever comes through her must bear that name ‘Dibi’ and not ‘Chapp-Jumbo’ because it is not an all-comers house.
Some people have said that your Aunty gave her a Bonny name; Mieokomibim, which is not an Okrika name, and so hold the argument that for your Aunty to name her a Bonny name and at some point, wanted her brother, Diepirinye to marry her, and when that one declined, based on her alleged character deficiency, that your dad, the great Sir Needham had two daughters; Nelly and Linda, with her, that that qualifies her (Mieokomibim) to be a member of the Chapp-Jumbo family.
Sir Needham had several other wives that he married fully and traditionally, and Mieokomibim was not married by Needham; and when Needham died, we had his funeral rites according to Bonny tradition and custom. She was not on that line. She did not stay on the Akparamgba for Needham because she was not married by him. So, she still belonged to my aunty, Lydia Nnenna Dibi and whatever offspring came from her are the bonafide property of her and her husband.
When we were having the interview, he actually stated that his mother is from Ogba, but was mute about his father. May we know who in your family is his father?
Before the Civil War, his mother had a relationship with a man who was working for the former Coconut Estate Manager and that man happens to come from Abia State, precisely Arochukwu, somewhere in Arochukwu. That man was living in Bonny in the Coconut Estate which was a stone’s throw to the Ayambo Community and they had a son before this claimant to the Chieftaincy of Jumbo Major House, by the name “Ojukwu”. That is the name of the senior brother to Tamunoala. Ojukwu did not stay in Ayambo. He just grew up in Ayambo but they had had him before Tamunoala, and so, by extension, his father is rightly from Arochukwu; the man who worked with the Coconut Estate Manager, and that issue has been in the document that our lawyer; Barrister Fombo had forwarded to the Amanyanabo and the Bonny Council of Chiefs. You will have a copy of that communication after this interview. We’ll make it available to you because it’s on record.
So basically whether from his paternal or maternal lineage, he has no connection, not biologically, by adoption, by association, marriage or slavery?
He’s a young man who grew up in the family at Ayambo just because of our Aunty. We didn’t want to push him aside after the Civil War. He grew up there, and so, he knows all of us, how we are and how we are all related. He is not our biological son or brother in anyway.
When we insisted he told us his parentage, he asserted that his lawyer advised against that and if anybody wants to know his lineage or origin, the person should go to court. Do you think there’s something that gives him the confidence that if such is challenged in court that he will stand up to the test?
I doubt if he will have any such document or evidence that he can present that will give him that position that he is a true member of the Chapp-Jumbo family. He is not and the whole Ayambo Community knows that he is not a biological son of the Chapp-Jumbo family.
The Jumbo House Constitution in Section 1(a)(1) states that for somebody to be a Chief of Jumbo House, he has to be a descendant of Jumbo. Now, we are tracing the ways someone can be a descendant; which can be biologically, either paternally or maternally. Someone can also be a descendant through adoption or if his mother or father was brought in as a domestic servant of the family, such a person can also lay claims. So, are you saying to this effect that however it is looked at, Tamunoala Chapp-Jumbo is not a descendant of the Jumbo House?
He is not and he knows that, and that was why throughout his campaign, planning, execution and purported capping, he did not involve any of us. It was more or less a coup that he planned and executed.
We understand that his chieftaincy ceremony happened in Ayambo…
In Ayambo, and in my late father’s parlour.
Who must have opened the parlour for him?
One of his associates, somebody who must have had custody of the keys of that Opuwari with him, who was in the compound; he’s late now, though.
When this happened, did you try to speak with Tamunoala and Wilson?
Yes, I did, on that particular day, when I heard of it, I asked some family members to go to the family house to check what was actually happening there. When they got there, they told me tamunoala was there with some elders and they were doing capping ceremony. I asked them to give the phone to Wilson, and I asked him what he was doing in my father’s parlour, he didn’t answer. I asked several times and why he didn’t take this to his own house or his father’s parlour, he still didn’t answer. I then called Tamunoala on his mobile line and he picked. I asked him what he was doing in my father’s parlour. He said nothing serious, just a small meeting with some Jumbo House elders that they will soon be done. I told them to vacate my father’s parlour and go to his house since he claimed he was having a short meeting with elders of Jumbo Major House. I told him to take them to his own house and not in my father’s parlour, not in Needham’s parlour, and of which he agreed. He said “Bro, I’ve heard you, I will do so. I’ll leave”, but he did not go anywhere.
So, in actuality, he got some people he claimed to be elders of Jumbo House to cap him in your father’s parlour without your permission, without the permission of the Chairman of the House and at the same time that was happening, he, Tamunoala Chapp-Jumbo that claims to be the Senior Pastor and Bishop of Immanuel Heritage International Ministries, a supposed man of God, was lying to you on phone that he was just having a brief meeting with few elders of Jumbo Major House?
That’s right, and I recall that on that particular morning I told him on phone that the way he’s going about this particular thing, that as a servant of God as he declared himself to be, he should not be going this way or delve into chieftaincy matters. And I also made it clear that it is his own choice if he wants to aspire to the highest level of office in Bonny Kingdom, he is free to do so because it’s a free world, but it must be legitimately sought and not be done surreptitiously.
What actions did the Chapp-Jumbo family take in regards to this incident?
After the purported capping and when the video went viral, people all over and even the ones abroad were calling to question the incident, asking how it happened. We had to extricate ourselves from blame because what happened was a coup; the principal members of the family were not aware. The platform on which this young man wanted the public to view as one upon which he was aspiring to be Chief is not true, the Igbiselagha Chapp-Jumbo family had nothing to do with it. So, the public should not be blindfolded or deceived.
For him not to have consulted with the Chapp-Jumbo that he claims to have come from could it be a reinforcement of he awareness that he has nothing to do with the family?
Yes, your position is quite right. He cleverly avoided intimating us; carrying us along because he knew that we would tell him that it is not his position, you are not qualified. It is not your right. So, in order to avoid that, he used the back door to get into my father’s parlour, called a few elders there and they capped him; to give legitimacy to an illegal act. An act which my family frowns at till this moment.
So, what did the family do?
As a follow up, we had to get our lawyer; Barrister Joseph Fombo, to communicate with the Amanyanabo of Bonny and the Chiefs Council, informing them that we are not in support of what happened that day as claimed that we were fully aware and in support. Most of us were in Port Harcourt then, not knowing what had happened in Bonny.
Did you state your reason for not supporting him? Was it because you don’t want him to be chief or you’re not in support because he’s not a member of the family?
First of all, you cannot support an issue of which you are not even aware of. This was a surprise to everybody. If he had come out to inform us of his intension as far as Jumbo Major House is concerned, but he never did. So, the issue of support is not even the first issue to be talked about because it was done behind all of us. Even my mother who was in Bonny; who lives in the compound was not aware. On that particular day, she had noise of drums and so on, so she had to come out to the frontage of the house to stay there. They were urging her to come out of the sun but she refused because she wanted to see what was going on and that since she came into the family, she has never such a thing happen before.
When you wrote to the Chief Council, did they acknowledge or respond to your letter?
Yes, they acknowledged the receipt of the letter. That of the Amanyanabo was dispatched to him by courier, of which he has always in acknowledgement stated that it was duly delivered to him. We have been waiting for the Chiefs Council to also invite us if need be, to express our concerns to them.
We reached the Bonny Chiefs Council and they confirmed inviting Tamunoala Chapp-Jumbo and gave him an injunction to recant and stop parading himself around Bonny Kingdom as a chief. When we crosschecked with him, he said they invited him to give clarity to his visit to the project site where Evomec is working as the Chief of the house. You earlier said that while the capping ceremony was going on, you called him on the phone and he said he was just having a small meeting with some elders. Given these inconsistencies, does it suggest to you that he is a person of questionable character?
As a journalist, I think you should be in the position to make your calculations and see what comes out. You have your response from the Bonny Chiefs Council on one hand, and the response to the issue of the capping on the 15th of November, 2019, on another hand. I’ll want you to evaluate by putting the two side by side and then form an opinion by yourself.
We learned at some point that while he told you he was having a meeting with few elders, he had informed one or two persons in the family earlier that he wanted to host his classmates in your family Opuwari, is that correct?
Yes, that is true. That happened several months before the capping and that issue too, just like the capping matter, was not made known to the family expressly. He did it in his usual way by just talking to one or two persons and keeping the entire family in the dark.
Did you make an effort to query him?
That matter was detailed to my brother, Biekpo, who was in Bonny at the time, to follow up and the issues were reported to the police to intervene, and they were at the Bonny police station and the DPO presided over the matter with Tamunoala, Biekpo, and the Community Chairman, Goddy, present and they resolved that that occasion should not hold in the family house, but he could go to any other suitable place to hold the event. But it turned out that the occasion he had in mind or what he told the police was that he was going to host his classmates or his classmates at Bonny National Grammar School wanted to host him in recognition of his ascension to the position of the Bishop in his church. The occasion turned out to be a different thing all together. It wasn’t what he claimed was to take place on that particular day.
He told the police his classmates want to host him when he was actually planning for the capping ceremony, and you called him on the phone, he said he was having a meeting with some elders while the capping ceremony was going on?
Yes, and that is to the knowledge of everybody today because even on that particular day I think the Chiefs Council were meeting in Bonny. So, the shooting of canon attracted their attention and they started asking what was happening around Bonny, before they got to know that it was in Ayambo that the event was taking place. And, of course, the principal members of the family were not aware of what was happening inside the family house.
Do you see this as a dangerous development that may become a precedence tomorrow?
It’s a very dangerous precedence that is about been laid if this should be allowed to go through then any other person can rise from nowhere to claim he has been capped Chief and lord himself over the people. Bonny is an ancient kingdom and should enhance its customs and traditions which up till today should be upheld by all and sundry. We will not want a situation where we’ll be dragged into desecration of the custom of the people. The Igbiselagha Chapp-Jumbo family dissociates itself from what is happening and we don’t want to be dragged into it. If anybody in the family wants to aspire for chieftaincy position or any other position in the family, he should go through the proper procedures and come out plain to the people by telling them his intension. The family will form a front and present it properly and not by trying to get it through the back door or trying to be unnecessarily smart.
When will Jumbo house be finally free. Sometimes I want to be ashamed to attach such to my name. Look at the houses in Finima & Oloma on how they’re working together to make benefit of the natural resources they have. While the Jumbo house that has more than enough to go round only wants to limit it to a microscopic few by always causing troubles. I’m ashamed of some of you.