In response to the recent interview by the Chairman of the Ogbobiri Asawo of Buoye Omuso Brown House of Bonny Kingdom in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, the Tobin House stated that the ownership of Finima Community where the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) project is located is legendary and well documented as belonging to the ancestors of Konibo ye Awanta Tobin House, who were the first settlers of the area centuries ago.

Speaking through the Chairman of the Opu-Asawo (senior youths) of the Konibo ye Awanta Tobin House of Finima in Bonny LGA, Agomienye Mack Tobin spoke with Kristina Reports’ Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Godswill Jumbo, on the issues related to the land dispute between his house and the Brown House. He stridently clarified several of the issues raised against the Tobin House and the claims of ownership of Finima. Enjoy the read:  

Recently, in an interview granted by the Chairman of the Ogbobiri-Asawo of Buoye Omuso Brown House, he made some assertions that the land where Workers Camp is situated, where the temporary site of Julius Berger is sited and also where Chevron is sited belongs to Brown House. When we sought to clarify whether, he was using Brown House symbolically for Finima, he said specifically, that it belongs to Brown House, not alongside Tobin and Attoni Houses, which are also of Finima.  What is your response to that? Do you share his view?

To start with, I will say the whole parcel of land that makes up Finima, from the boundaries between Finima and Bonny, is communally owned by the three houses of Finima. And I will further say that before now the three houses at one time or the other have exercised authority and ownership over the lands in view. So, for him to be saying that the land is owned by the Brown House is far from the truth. Originally, if we are talking about the people that landed in Finima first, it is the ancestors of the Tobins, from our own records, we landed in Ikpakpayo in the 11^th century, which is where we are now, which is the new Finima; and from Ikpakpayo, because of thunder disturbances, we moved to old Finima. It was in old Finima that Torukubo and Alagbariyagha met and had a common boundary. By then, Omuso and Opu Ipuo were not even been born. Opu Ipuo was around 18^th century, during the time of Awusa, being the King of Bonny. Opu Ipuo was one of the four quart-varies that were ruling Bonny and when Perekule took over, Opu Ipuo left Bonny to come and take succour in Finima, and that was how Opu Ipuo today is the progenitor of the Brown House. So, they cannot come and claim any land because they never bought anywhere from the Tobin House, as the first people that landed here, instead they wrote applications to us and we allotted Land to them. But the place we are talking about was not part of the place allotted to them. So, I wonder where they own it from.

So, you are saying that it is not just the Workers’ Camp land, not just the Julius Berger site, not just Chevron, all of what is today new Finima and what was old Finima, that Tobin was the original owner?

We are the original owners. Like I said, we landed in Ikpakpayo first in the 11^th century. By the time we moved from Ikpakpayo to old Finima was in the 15^th century and that was same time Bonny ancestors landed in Orupiri and that 15^th century was when Torukubo and Alagbariyagha met. Torukubo was a hunter, Alagbariyagha was also a hunter and where they met was the creek before Government School and the only way they could communicate and were able to identify themselves was because they both spoke Ijaw language. By then Brown or Omuso had not been born. Like I said, Opu Ipuo, their progenitor, according to the records of the Chronicles of Bonny had not also been born. And now they are claiming Duawari because of their lineage, that Opu Ipuo was one of the sons of King Kumalu. So, if they are claiming they are Duawari through there and their lineage is there, by then Opu Ipuo was not even in existence. Opu Ipuo came in around 18^th century. Perekule took over early part of 18^th century and that was when Opu Ipuo moved to Finima, from the records.

When you say Opu Ipuo moved from Bonny to Finima, are you saying that King Perekule sent him to come and rule over Finima?

Perekule never sent Opu Ipuo to come and rule over Finima. During that time, the four quart-varies were ruling. Then there was nothing like chiefs’ council, they were the council that were ruling. Opu Ipuo refused been under the rulership of Perekule. That was why he moved to Finima. Of course, that alone should even tell you that by then Finima was a distinct community from Bonny. That was how Opu Ipuo moved to Finima and settled down. And the Brown that we have today, are not even biologically related to Opu Ipuo.

How do you mean?

What I mean is that Opu Ipuo’s descendant, far, far descendant, Sonia went to Okrika and came back with Uku, that is Uku-Njem. When he came, in fact, Brown House, before now was answering Uku. It is of recent in 1976-77 when they started abusing them with the name Uku, Ukudi, that they changed the name to Buo. Uku means Buo. How many Bonny men have you seen answering Buo? That was how they changed their name to Buo. If not they were answering Uku. Back then in old Finima, there was a place they call Ntamoku, meaning ‘where Uku used to stay’. So, they should not come and tell us that they are the owners of Finima.

So you are saying that the people currently known as Buoye Omuso Brown House of Finima in Bonny Kingdom are not biological descendants of Opu Ipuo, who was a Bonny prince?

Yes, they are not; and yes, Opu Ipuo was a Bonny prince. One of his slave Onyeasolam went to Okrika and brought Uku-Njem. Onyeasolam is an Igbo name. They call him Onyesom but it is corruption of Onyeasolam. Onyeasolam went to Okrika and came with Uku-Njem -and Uku-Njem happened to be a thinker and had a craft that was not common in Bonny here. That was how he brought him to Finima.

When a he brought him, in the history of certain people and races, we understand that some slaves are bought to come and serve the household of their masters while some other slaves are adopted as children. Which was he?

The thing is that, from the records we have, he was bought as a slave though he had something that everybody needs, people want to mend their kettles, pots, so he came and started.

So, he was not a child of Onyeasolam?

AS per the records he was brought by Onyeasolam. Onyeasolam went to Okrika for business and came with him. Of course, he was so insignificant that nobody noticed him. I will tell you all about Omuso, it was the King of Bonny that made Omuso what he is today through Captain Hart.

Who was Omuso?

Omuso was the last son of Uku, who was sold into slavery and was redeemed by King Fubara, and handed over to Chief Captain Hart who brought him up under the King’s instruction.

Was he the only son of Uku?

He had other brothers. He was sold into slavery by his brothers because of his wrong behavior. They were just the children of Uku without any position in Finima. That is why nobody is talking about them. That is why is it that there is no record about Buo and no record about his other four sons. It is very clear in the records of Bonny history how Omuso was presented to the king by Captain Hart and was made a Chief. The King later sent him to Finima in company of Hart House men who gave him protection. The only record that talked about him was about how he worked with Captain Hart, he worked as a pilot and was able to send his son to Sierra Leone to study Medicine. When his son, Omoni came back, he became very influential and some people heard about him. Otherwise, who was Omuso? But there is no record you will bring, both local and international, that does not talk about Awanta. There is no record that talks about the Niger Delta – let me not talk about Bonny – that does not talk about Awanta. They were contemporaries biologically, he was the senior to Awanta, the same mother. Why is that they did not talk about Omuso? But they are talking about Awanta. How come someone Brown House claims was an Andoni man was the chief priest of the Igbaninyanagh-Simingi (The national deity of Bonny Kingdom) and the King of Bonny Kingdom, King William Dappa Pepple, the black monarch, came to marry from his family, a slave family in Finima? The first daughter of Awanta, by name Ibi-ene-ofori, is the wife of King William Dappa Pepple that bore him King George Pepple. How come?

So, the point I am making here is that to answer your question, the whole land in Finima, today, we are not claiming exclusive ownership of Finima land. Of course, when people have stayed with you for over a long time. Imagine that Opu Ipuo came to Finima in the 18^th century, from that time till now it is over 300 years. They have lived with us for over 300 years, we cannot begin to claim that we own Finima solely. We all own Finima and whatever is coming to Finima should be for everybody. It is not for the Browns alone neither is it for the Tobins alone. So, they should stop claiming sole ownership. According to our records, at a point in time, in old Finima, the Browns applied to us for land because they have occupied the place where we gave to Opu Ipuo. Some of these records showing how they applied for and got land from us date back to the 1870. They even got land from us to bury their chiefs because there was nowhere to bury. And men and women had nowhere to build houses. And the only thing they can do at that point…you know, when people come to your place and you give them a place to build and they have stayed there for this number of years, they have multiplied and a lot of other things, at this point, there was nowhere for them to stay to build houses again. We gave them where they had to build houses.

Did you just say they never had where to bury their chiefs?

Yes, of course, they never had. I will start from Omoni. Let me not talk about Omuso because he was not known, he was nobody, nobody knew about him. The person that came and made the house what it is today was Omoni, the first son of Omuso. Omoni wrote a memorandum of understanding with Iju, the first son of Awanta to build a house for his wife, Eunice. We have that record. If Omuso owned any land will Omoni come to collect land from Iju, the first son of Awanta? Even when Omoni died, they buried him on Dupuyo. Dupuyo was Isowari land. Isowari is the third son of Awanta. Awanta had Waribo as his first son, Ijumangibo as his second son and Isowari as his third son. Isowari bought a slave called Abam, he had one daughter Aya-sii and a slave called Abam, because Isowari went contrarily to the law of the kingdom, he was executed. His slave Abam being an Igbo boy ran into Omoni that Ijumangibo was maltreating him. And when Omoni died, they never had any place to bury him, they had to take him to that land to bury him and that was why in their burusu today they call that place Omoni Dupuyo, ‘where they buried Omoni’. It is on Tobin House land. After Omoni died his son, William took over their leadership, (Brown House leadership). When William died in 1912, they never had any place to bury him. They took him to Kiriko-nungo. On reaching there, Aya-Taa, the only surviving daughter of Ijumangibo went there. The Chiefs, everybody was there. After they dug the grave, she went with a kitchen chair and sat in the grave saying that they should bury her first because the land belong to the Tobins and they (Brown) were not permitted to use the land. Based on that, they had to sign a memorandum of understanding that they are using Tobin House land to bury William. After William, the next person on that throne from that their lineage on the throne was Buowari. They never had any place to bury Buowari. Luckily for them, the Tobins were all outside the shores of Finima, they took him to the church and the church was part of the Igbewari-Kiri of Tobin House and that was where they buried him in the church premises.

So you are saying they buried three of their chiefs on Tobin House land?

Yes, on Tobin House land. They should come and disprove it. We have documents to prove that. We don’t just make assertions. So, if they had any land, let them come and tell us where they have the land. We have documents to that and we can make it public. We don’t need to hide anything since they want us to open up we will open it, let the world judge it.

So, in essence, you are saying that not just the assertion that Workers Camp, Julius Berger site and Chevron are exclusively belonging to Brown, the other assertions that Mobil, NLNG and all these other companies are exclusively tenants to Brown House are also wrong?

They are all wrong. I want to tell you, when Mobil came into Finima, it was the Tobins and Attonis that gave them that place where they are staying today. They signed a lease agreement from the Tobins, counter signed by His Majesty and also counter signed by the state government then.

The Rivers State government?

Yes, the Rivers State Government, under the military regime of, I think, Col. Godwin Abe. So, there was an agreement. Whatever they went back to sign with Mobil we don’t know. But we gave them the place when they came in. NLNG has refused to sign because it is a Nigerian company else they too would have signed with the community. By then what we know was NNPC not NLNG and all the letters, all the correspondences from NNPC were even directed to the Tobins. If they have any they should make it public.

Having established this, when you now moved to the new Finima which is where you are now your preciously referred to as Ikpakpayo, was the previous setting of how old Finima was set out and how it was allotted to different persons, was that same template used to allocate properties to persons in this new Finima?

It wasn’t because even, like I said, in the old Finima, the Browns only occupied the little space given to them by the Tobins. When they multiplied and there was no space again, they started applying to the Tobins. The Tobins were the first to move down here. We have the records, publications made and letters written to that effect by NNPC. Of course, the Browns, if they were the owners of the land, they would have stopped us from moving. But we moved down here first, occupied here first and lived for almost six months to one year before they, the Browns, started coming over. So, the government did not share because they don’t have right to share the place because the place belongs to people. Of course, if there is anybody to stand and share, the Tobins will have to stand and share and give them, if at all it was necessary. We felt it was not necessary because we have been living as a community. In old Finima, we have our cemetery, we don’t bury together with them. But today, we now bury together with them because, of course, civilization and development should make us not to have the kind of feelings we used to have. Prior to this time we believed that they don’t have anything to do with us. From our records, from the inception of the Igbaninyanagha-Simingi, the Tobin House has been the Chief priest from inception till the time of Awanta. And so we see ourselves as that and that is why the Tobins never accepted slaves and consequently we are not as large as other house because we see ourselves as sacred people. If we accept slaves, the bloodline will be polluted because the Igbaninyanagh-Simingi, the national deity of the Ibani people will never eat from a stranger or adulterated blood. So, they were very careful in accepting people anyhow. That was what kept us.

Could that be responsible for why the population of the Tobins are less than the Brown?

Yes, it is less than that of the Browns because they needed to maintain the purity of the race.

But people are wondering; you have the Finima Youth Congress, which is a conglomeration of all the youths from the entire three houses. Now, consecutively, the Chairman of the FYC is from Brown, that is the current chairman, Charles Brown, his predecessor, Eric Tay is also of Brown, and the person who handed over to Eric Tay, Mayor Aladiokuma Hart, is also from Brown.

I understand the question you are asking. The truth is that the politics we find ourselves in today is politics of numbers. But seriously we are working on that because over the years they have used the issue of number.

There has been this issue of Duawari and Brown House has stridently asserted that they are one of the Duawari. 

First of all, how many of them today even have direct relationship with Omuso? I mean before we start talking about Duawari. The Brown House today have burusus but none of them is related directly to Opu Ipuo and during the time of Opu Ipuo, chieftaincy houses have not been created.

So, on the issue of Duawari, I think the people are just confused. What is the housing system in Bonny without Perekule? There is a chieftaincy house attached to Perekule, George-Pepple, which is called the royal house today. How come a house that is not a Duawari is making a Duawari to be a house? Perekule created all the chieftaincy houses in Bonny today. They are claiming their duawariship because of the relationship with Opu Ipuo. In the Bonny House system, you are only recognized as a house because the king deems it fit to recognize you and from the day he makes you a chief, a chieftaincy house is created. So, if he has not made Brown a chief, where will they pass through to claim Duawari? Because the ‘Wari’ there is what makes them the house first. That is the confusion that they don’t even understand and today they don’t even want to respect the Perekule throne that made them a house. So, how come they are claiming Duawari because according to them they founded Finima? These are children of people that their lineage cannot be traced, directly or indirectly, to Opu Ipuo. I also asked, when Perekule made chiefs in Bonny were there only 34 or 36 persons in Bonny? The answer is no. Where are the rest? Because Perekule did not make them chiefs, their house went under, got submerged under the chiefs that Perekule created. Politically, what Perekule did was to make certain people chiefs. He made Adango, chief, after Nwaoju, who was bearing the name Pepple before he later changed it to Nwaoju had been made Chief.

So, you are saying, emphatically, that before King Perekule, there were no chieftaincy houses in Bonny?

Yes. Perekule came in in the 18^th century, everybody has the record. It was King Perekule that started the creation of Chiefs thereby creating Chieftaincy Houses.

In essence aside Brown House, there are other houses too claiming to be Duawari.

They are claiming Duawari because they don’t even have constitution of Bonny. The present constitution that we are using now was written between 1960 and 1970 during the time of King William Dappa Pepple II, the father of this present King. That was when that constitution was written. And in the constitution there is nothing like Duawari. I don’t know where they got that from. The constitution only stated the major and minor and sub houses. There is nothing like Duawari. So, if their fathers were there and never protested that there is Duawari and all those things, I don’t know what they are talking about.

What if it was omitted?

In the constitution? And the constitution has been there for over 50 years and it has not been amended?

What if for fear of the King nobody protested?

Well, if for fear of the King, ordinarily, looking at the lineage, the King mentioned that the present Bristol House was created by King Perekule IV and is inhabited by people from Perekule House.

Talking about founders, you have meticulously explained how everybody came to settle in Finima. But for the records, who was the founder of Finima, was it Konibo or Kongo?

The founder of Finima is Ikpakpayo-Alaowi Igbigba gbogbam, that was what they call him then because he was very wealthy. The founder of Finima was Ikpakpayo-Alaowi. He is the first son of Kongo. Actually, Kongo left Central Ijaw in present day Delta State. He could not land in Ikpakpayo, he stopped at Ebekiri. If you cross the sea, you have Ebekiri and Ebetoru, Bregede and others. They were coming, when they move they will stop somewhere and spent some time and when they got to that place in Delta State, he was too old. That was where he died and was buried. That was Kongo. Then his son, Alaowi moved the rest of the family to this Ikpakpayo and founded Ikpakpayo. His great grandson, Torukubo later moved the family from there to old Finima and founded old Finima. It was Torukubo that met with Alagbariyagha. So, now they are claiming that their lineage is traceable to Kongo. They don’t even know who Kongo is. Their lineage is traced to Opu Ipuo and Opu Ipuo is the son of King Kumalu. They should leave Kongo because Kongo has nothing to do with the Brown House. That is the truth. Like I said earlier, as late as 1988, they were still bearing the name Uku, Uku-Njem. They were answering Nde-Ulo-Ukwu. And that was why in old Finima they have Ntam-Ukwu.

But Ulo-Ukwu was Jumbo House…

Jumbo too was answering Ukwu and they were also answering Ukwu.

Was it the same person?

No, it is a name, not the same person. It is a name that Onyeasolam called the person he went and brought from Okrika. I am surprised that they are answering Buo now because I left Bonny after 1988 and by the time I came back in 1992, they have started bearing Buo and I asked where is Ukwu, they said they are no longer answering Ukwu. So, I don’t know the issue of Ukwu and Buo.

Still talking about this founding and ownership of Finima, was there any time this issue was brought before any court of law in Nigeria?

That was the Shell land case. It was a case concerning a parcel of land between Bonny and Finima and the judge, for whatever reasons, said the land belongs to the Brown and Jumbo Houses. We have all the records that is needed but when it is presented the judge will say that the case in question is different from the records. The land in question is the narrow one between Finima and Bonny. Can I ask one technical question? Jumbo and Brown won that place, is it true or false.

I heard they won…

Is Jumbo part of Finima?

Not sure…

Can Jumbo claim the whole of Bonny because they won that place?

Not at all, except the judgment says so

Why is it that Brown House is coming to claim the entire Finima because they won that case? After that case, Brown House instituted another case that concerns a land in Igbewari-Kiri in the heart of Finima, Tobin House won that case, after that their said judgment. I showed you a map of Igbewari-Kiri that shows that part of Finima also belong to Tobin House, that part, Igbewari-Kiri is more than one third of Finima. The Brown House presented that judgment in this case but the judge told them that the place we are talking about is in the heart of Finima, it is different from the narrow part of land between Finima and Bonny under consideration.

Was it the document where a certain Chief Tobin cancelled out Brown from his name?

No, I’m coming to that. This one I am talking about is the case between one Mrs. Bessy Nwosu nee Tobin and one Bara Igoniwari. At a particular point, the case now turned to be about who owns Finima. Bara Igoniwari was given that plot of land by the Brown House. Bessy Nwosu was also given that plot of land by the Tobin House. Now the case got to a point where who holds the title to give that land became an issue and the court needed to decide. Is it Tobin or Brown? At that point, it was no longer a case between two individuals. It was now a case between the Tobins and the Browns as to who really owns the land. And the judge made one funny statement, he said he wonders if the Browns actually have any land in Finima. If they do, how can they be begging for the crumbs that falls under the table from the Tobins? When he saw numerous applications from them.

As in Brown House asking for allocation of land from the Tobins?

Yes, Brown House members applying to the Tobins to have land allocated to them. He asked how come they are asking for it. If you have any land in Finima, will all your members be running to this people to ask for land? If you go to them, they will always tell you it was a land dispute between two individuals. But at a point it grew to where who has the title to give out that land – was it the Tobins or Browns? – became an issue. And so, we won that case. They went on appeal and the appeal was followed to its conclusion and they still lost in the appeal. But in our own case the appeal was not followed to its conclusion because we lost the Chief of the House then, a kind of breadwinner of the house then. The house was thrown into confusion and they could not follow the appeal. But in their own case they followed the appeal and also lost in the appeal.

Recently, we hear that there was an injunction from the Brown House that the Tobin House should leave Finima or pay a sum of N250 million and that this issue has gone before the court. Is it true?

There is no injunction against us from the Brown House but rather they instituted a case in court against the Tobin House demanding N250 million for trespassing on their land or we vacate the land.  The matter is in the court, even though their own case has been struck out. But we also instituted a counter claim telling the court to declare that we are also part owners of Finima. So, the court struck out the case they instituted against us demanding that we pay them N250 million for all the inconvenience we have caused them as owners of the place. But the case of the counter claim is still on.

Recently, we saw a picture online in which we saw the late Rt. Hon. Henry Buowari Brown and was identified as the former Speaker of the Eastern Legislative Assembly in Nigeria in 1950. Now, whoever captioned that picture referred to him as His Royal Highness, Chief henry Buowari Brown, Kongo XIII, Royal Head of the Buoye Omuso Brown Dynasty and Paramount Ruler of Finima. Is this description of him correct?

The person made irii (abominable act). In fact, the person is an Irii (abominable person). I will show you the letters of Buowari Brown, more than ten of them; Buowari never answered ‘paramount ruler’. He never answered ‘Amadabo’. In fact, he wrote more than 20 letters to Chief Abraham Sunday Tobin, who was his contemporary, he never referred to himself as ‘paramount ruler’ or ‘Amadabo’. He only answered Chief Henry Buowari Brown. So, where did they get that from? Somebody asked Yibo (Buowari Brown) if his grandfather, who was the head of Brown House, ever answered anything like or referred to himself as ‘paramount ruler’ and Yibo said he cannot remember. But Yibo claimed to have lived with his grandfather. You can see the deceit in their claims. So, the person is talking nonsense. I will give you documents of Buowari with his letterhead. Buowari was educated, he schooled in Sierra Leone and, at his level, if he was a Paramount Ruler or Amadabo, he will answer that. So, I will give you four documents, letters he addressed to Chief Abraham Sunday Tobin, where he never answered any of those titles. So the person made irii (abominable act).

How come there is a building in Finima which is captioned him the ‘Palace of the Amadabo of Finima’?

If I go and write on my building that I am the ‘Amanyanabo of Bonny’, will you come and clean it? Anybody can write anything they want to write. Did you see ‘Amanyanabo of Bonny’ written on the palace gate? Alagbariyagha is the founder of Bonny, even though he is no more. He had no child. How many places, roads, or objects, monuments that you saw that they named after him. Which area of Bonny that is designated Alagbariyagha land? Does that stop him from being the founder of Bonny? So, leave them alone. When you have something, you don’t need to go and be contesting with them. Recently, their elders are now even answering Wari-Alapu. This is a ploy to mislead people. Such things don’t exist in Ibani tradition.  

There is this rumour and people are wondering how true it is that whenever Brown House makes a chief, that chief is not presented to the Amanyanabo-in-Council directly, that he has to be presented to the Amanyanabo-in-Council by the Chief and Head of Captain Hart House. Is this correct?

Yes, let us give you the correct position. Before a Brown House Chief is presented to the Chiefs’ Council to be recognized as Country Chief, he is first capped by the Chief of Captain Hart House. In fact, I told you something earlier that whatever Brown House is today, King Perekule throne made them. Without Perekule there is no Brown. Look at all the history, the time Perekule died, both Kenneth Dike, J. I. Jones, and every other record there is, nobody talked about Omuso, not until Perekule started making him somebody. After King Fubara redeemed him from the slave ship, he gave him to Adango (Captain Hart) to take him home.

Redeemed who?

Redeemed Omuso, the last son of Ukwu that was sold into slavery by his elder ones and was taken home by Adango. He stayed with Adango until he became very prominent, became hardworking to the extent that he could even pilot a ship. And Adango had to take him to the King to make him a chief. And after they made him a chief, now how will the King have control over Finima? That was why they sent him back to Finima because he is a son from Finima. If he goes back, they won’t do anything to him and he was Awanta’s immediate elder brother. Awanta, who was controlling his territory and would come into the King’s realm with his report. For the King to say he has no authority over Awanta, it means Awanta has been a man of his own, controlling his own territory. This was his biological maternal elder brother. And you know maternal relationship is stronger than paternal relationship. So, he accepted him.

So Awanta and Omuso were of the same mother?

Yes, they are from the same mother, biologically, they came from the same womb. So, he accepted him. So, they claiming Duawari is funny. You are claiming to be a Duawari, meanwhile, the person that presents you to the palace for recognition by the King is not even a Duawari.

But is it possible for a chief that is not a Duawari present the chief of a Duawari to the King?

After Adango presented Omuso to the Chiefs’ Council, and from that time to Chief Idamieibi, all the chiefs of Brown House were presented to the Council by the Chiefs of Captain Hart House, including Chief Idamieibi, who was capped and presented to the Council by Chief Josiah Ikoli. If they want a picture of where he was being capped by Chief Josiah Ikoli, that we can present to them free of charge. It is not something controversial. If at all he is a freeborn you see where the real question if he was a freeborn comes? How can the chief of a House that is not duawari present your first, second, third and all your chiefs to the King? Brown House has had eight chiefs, all presented to the Council by Captain Hart House.

Including Yibo?

Yibo was not made chief, I will tell you. Yibo (Buowari Brown) was presented under special circumstances as coordinated by Chief Young Sunday Tobin. Yibo came in from the backyard door. Yibo was dressed up as a chief and everything was done was in Banigo House. The last chief Brown House presented officially was Chief Idamieibi and that was why during the proclamation, the King said that Yibo should go back home and for his house to present him properly, otherwise, he was not a chief.

The King said this during his proclamation?

Yes, on the day of the King’s proclamation. It is on record because he came in through the back door.

With all of these issues, if there is going to be peace and harmony and oneness in Finima, what is the way forward?

Well, the way forward to me is that what has happened in the past has happened.  One of the reasons why they deposed Allwell Brown was because he is the author of this confusion. That was why they deposed him because the elders of his house, Brown House, were telling him that Finima belongs to these three houses. He cannot make Finima an exclusive property of the Brown House. For us to achieve proper peace and harmony, we all must make Finima the property of the three houses.  The problem of Finima is greed and selfishness and for us to move forward we must all come together to discuss on the way forward. One family cannot decide for other families.