Okrika chieftaincy disputes usually go far and deep, but 21 chiefs representing different war canoe houses marched down to the state capital at the week to stand behind the newly-installed king, Tamuna-Omisiki Ogube as true and final.
The chiefs from the Kirike Tiwn Council of Chiefs said they came to ward off the insinuations of a professor, the chairman of the Okrika caretaker committee that tended to show that the Ogube 1 was not the unanimous choice of the people.
Chief after chief rose to declare support for the new king and said there was no war canoe house left to oppose the choice of Ogube.
Led by a chief, Sunday Igbiri Ala, secretary-general of the council of chiefs, the 21 chiefs said peace in Okrika was uppermost in their minds. Okrika had witnessed decades of disputes over kingship in the area, which once led to a king not being buried for many years.
The chiefs said any voice of opposition would only be ‘unfortunate and regrettable’. This, they said, is because; “The coronation of the Ogube 1 was not in any way disputed nor does it contract the memorandum submitted by the Kirike Town Council of Chiefs to the chieftaincy stools reclassification panel set up by the Rivers State government as the position of the Kirike town people on the stools reclassification was clear when it made its representations before the panel”.
The chiefs said the installation of the Amanyanabo of Okirika may be in dispute but not that of the Amanaynabo of Kirike. The chiefs refused any effort to show that Kirike was same as Okrika, saying the Amanyanabo of Okrika was classless and traces dynasty to the Ado royal family.
“Due process was adopted and followed to the letter in the selection and election procedures that led to the emergence of the new king (Ogube 1) as the Amanyanabo of Kirike Town”. The statement said the man going round to discredit the new king had contested and lost.
The Okrika chiefs said it was not the duty of any local council to install a chief or Amanyanabo under any guise for a people, saying it is only the Kirike Town Clan that has the sole right to choose and install who they deemed fit to lead them. They insisted that this right was exercised collectively by the people of Kirike Town Clan in the present exercise.
They claimed the installation was done peacefully, devoid of any conflicts as was orchestrated in sections of the media. “One therefore wonders the interest in the installation. They advised the care-taker council boss to rather concentrate in the provision of peace and security of the local council area than meddling in chieftaincy matters.
The chiefs said the new king was totally committed to the Nyesom Wike administration and the laudable achievements and so would not do anything that would disrupt the efforts of the state government.
It was necessary to enjoin all the people of the area and the Kirikese (generality of Kirike) to maintain peace and the law at all times.
The last may not be heard of the reclassification scheme of the Wike administration which has set fear in royal houses across the state where the action was seen as a plan to derobe many royal fathers after eight years since the former administration held sway.
Some political leaders had accused the governor of poking the embers of conflict in communities by reclassifying royal fathers. The governor himself had few weeks ago accused must traditional rulers in the state of political bias over the years. He said some royal fathers even refused to come out to welcome him during campaigns to be governor.
Ignatius Chukwu
