CHIEF ISERE DENIES ALLEGATION OF TAKING ANOTHER CHIEFTAINCY TITLE CALLS IT A LIE

Senior Chief B.J Kantee Isere

As rumor peddlers went to town with a fake news that the 4th most Senior Chief in the Opu Nembe-Bassambiri Council of Chiefs, Chief B.J.Kantee-Isere had concluded plans to dump his title to take another title in a neighboring community, and to verify the authenticity of the damaging rumor, Golden Pen Newspaper took a bold step, met with Chief Isere for an interview.Excerpts:

   Evans Tubonah is my name, I came to have one on one interview with you, but before we start, would you tell the readers your name?

Ans: My name is Okosi Alablo B.J.Kantee Isere of the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Chiefs council.

Question: There is a story making the rounds that you who have been a Chief, Chief Isere precisely, in the Opu Nembe Council of Chiefs,  had concluded plans to drop that title and to take another at the opposite side, Ogbolomabiri, Nembe City and that you have already built a house there and will soon pack over after the purported Chieftaincy title and ceremonies are done, what would you  say about that?

Ans: I have been a Chief for almost thirty years (30yrs) Now currently I am like the number four (NO 4) in the line of most senior Chiefs in the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Council of Chiefs and Kingdom.

Currently two of my senior Chiefs Epemu and  Aladede are very old, they hardly attend meetings, and whenever Chief L B Kanlango Kariyai is also absent in a meeting or any gathering of the Chiefs, I  become the most senior Chief in the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Council of Chiefs which has one hundred and fifty members.

     Yes! I heard the rumors myself.  Everybody has right to peddle any rumor and there is an adage in Nembe “Okumo erefabo-tingha” ( the drum does not call a person who has no name), which means that people don’t talk about someone that is not popular.  I think I have contributed so much to the development of my kingdom the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Kingdom in particular and the Nembe Ethnic Nationality in general.  The rumor mongers only used my name to peddle their rumors to pass their time, and if that make them happy its O.K, but the truth is that I am not moving from Chief Isere to any other title.

I am not just a Chief I am the King of “Isere-Ama” (Isere’s Town), and I am a Chief in the Opu-Nembe Bassambiri Chiefs Council and Kingdom from the Oluasiri axis of the Kingdom. All of us are aware that Oluasiri is where we have the Gas plant, where we have the big Petroleum/Gas resources, how and why Should I leave all these privileges and opportunities and  go to another community or kingdom to take a Chieftaincy title there?

Even though I am maternally related to Ogbolomabiri, from the Amain House in Nembe City, Ogbolomabiri, naturally I am entitled to any Chieftaincy title there, but for someone that had served for thirty years (30 YRS) as a Chief and not just a Chief but  someone that is popular, and  very responsible. Why will I leave my father’s name Chief Isere, if I do so, am I going up or down? So it’s not true, it’s not true at all, and it can never be true!

Ques : Can you digress a little bit on that , because some have said that you have already built a house to relocate,  could you please digress?

Ans: Yes! I am building a house at Ogbolomabiri, because a part of my mother is from Ogbolomabiri the Atubu family, and we are like the aborigines of Nembe kingdom, being descendants of the Obolo group, and Obolo  are the first sets of descendants before all the other big names we are hearing. The Obolo were the original Nembe people and I am a member of that family.

And if for any reason, my family members have a land for me, I think l should have the right to build a house there for my people. My people are not slaves, and nobody has the right to say I shouldn’t build a house for us it is our entitlement some of my people use Ogbolomabiri more than Bassambiri and if God has blessed me I should be free to build a house wherever, especially in my place, that’s why am building that house, and not at all for any Chieftaincy title.

In Nembe today, you hardly find family lands, lands are allocated to people in the sand filled areas, but this land was given to me by the people in my family. And the land is inside the town, it is not in the sand filled area; so I should be free to build house especially for a land given to me by my family.

Question: You said, you have been a Chief for thirty years now, that is quite a journey, as an elderly Chief can you tell the public about Nembe Ethnic Nationality? What are the cities and Kingdoms that make the Nembe Ethnic Nation?

Ans: The Nembe Ethnic Nationality is made up of the following Kingdoms:

We have the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Kingdom, we have the Nembe City Kingdom, we have the Twon-Brass Kingdom, we have the Okpoama Kingdom and we have the Odioma Kingdom. All these Kingdoms make up the Nembe Ethnic Nationality.

Ques: Now, to those born into more than one of these Kingdoms, what are the challenges in terms of relations.

Ans: Naturally Nembe Tradition is matrilineal, most of the people take their Chieftaincy titles from their mothers families, some take titles from their fathers families. I was one that took my title from my father’s family.  I took the title that bears my father’s name, most Chiefs bear names that are different from their father’s names.

But my name, I mean, the title I bear is on my certificates and on my account books. We were many entitled to the stool and I was the youngest. I became Chief when I was twenty two years (22 years) a Chief from my father’s side, bearing my father’s name and I cannot change my name, my prestigious Chieftaincy title, Isere to any other name or title..

Ques: To someone who becomes a chief or king in any part of the Nembe Kingdoms, a descendant of more than a kingdom, is he forbidden from embarking on any project outside the kingdom in which he is a Chief or King?

Ans: There is no law restricting anyone from building a house anywhere. if you are a Chief in either your father’s side or mother’s side, you also have right to relate with the other side.

Sometimes to even preside over meetings when the substantive Chief is not there, which is your right because if you were chosen Chief in your mother’s side, you would be  expected to do same. And if you have the resources to build houses everywhere, the places you came from you are free, there is no restriction on where you will build a house

Ques: Are you saying there is nothing wrong with that?

Yes! There is nothing wrong and I am not the first Chief that had built a house to honour his mother, while he is a Chief at his father’s side. People have been building. I am not the first and cannot be the last.
Ques: As a senior Chief, in-fact being the 4^th most senior Chief in the 150 members Chiefs council of the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Kingdom, Chief Isere sir, can you give the names of some of the most senior  Chiefs you met at your induction?

Ans: I met grandfathers as Chiefs, all those I met I was the youngest, and that time we were not more than 15 members of the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Council of Chiefs. And all they that were chiefs before me, the minimum years of seniority was over 25yrs above me .

We had Chief Peddie N Ibifa, Chief Otimi Oguara Kalabo, Chief Gibson Orunengimo, Chief Albert Doibo Ogbu, Chief Aaron Epemu who should be going to about 100 years of age now and Chief Febo. Out of these names some of those stools have changed occupants 3 or 4 times, because those I met had died, and others have come.

For example Kakango,  I think this is the third Kalango have seen, I have also seen the third Kalabo the one I met was Otimi Oguara Kalabo, who was supposed to be my grandfather, I met another Dokubo who became Kalabo, now we have Nimi Dambo as Chief Kalabo so we were just 15 but now 150 you can see  the difference, so  many young Chiefs were installed by their families, because of my outstanding performance as the youngest Chief then.

I worked very well with the senior Chiefs and everybody reasoned that if Chief Isere could work so committedly with the senior Chiefs let us appoint young people as Chiefs instead of appointing the elderly whose performance may be.

So, I was like a trail blazer that brought young people to sit on the stools of our old fathers.

Ques: Chief Isere you have spoken about Opu Nembe Bassambiri Council of Chiefs, what can you tell us about the Nembe Divisional Council of Chiefs?

Ans: initially when I became a Chief I also became a member of the Nembe  Divisional Council of Chiefs, that council comprises of Chiefs from Eguema,Liama,Belefiema, Twon-Brass Okpoama, Odioma, Ogbolomabiri  now Opu Nembe Agrisaba and Okoroba.

That was the Council of Nembe Nationality we are talking about, but one of the communities wanted to be lord over the rest of the communities, they wanted to claim the name Nembe to themselves, which they know was not right, they wanted to claim it, they had the tendency of seeing every person as an inferior person. People got annoyed and started leaving the union  Okpoama left the union, Opu Nembe Bassambiri left the union, Agrisaba, Okoroba and all the other axis left, we separated, while we supposed to be together in one council.

Ques: There is another union which you belong how do you call that?

Ans: when we separated, we now formed the Nembe-Ibe/Mini Council of Chiefs and we are doing well.

Ques: That we are very backward talking about development, what is the reason behind our backwardness?

Ans: The major factor I can say is, in-fighting, communal fighting we are supposed to be a united people because we are from the same root, but for greed or  whatever we started fighting each other so that unity to the common good of communities and the Nembe nation is no longer there. One of the assets we have as a people is that we own the lands that produce, what gives money to Nigeria, the crude oil and gas.

We have the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) at Oluasiri, also caked Soku Gas plant, which is in the territories of Opu Nembe-Bassambiri  Kingdom, we have the Nembe creek flow station Bassambiri flow station and so many flow stations.

But because the people are not coming together to ask for anything, development has not been coming as expected. Even the Federal and State Governments use the division between us to deprive us of infrastructural development.

The truth is that we are our own problem, as far as we cannot come together and ask for our development from the centre. The centre I mean are the state and the Federal Governments. They are not magicians and they cannot remember the people until you tell them what you need before you receive due attention.

As oil producing areas we are entitled to so much money coming to us even through the  13% derivation funds to give us the much desired infrastructural development; if we were speaking in one voice.

We know how much money comes into our state now, from our own production, but they don’t give us anything, and nobody can talk to the governors that have ruled the state and the nation, because we are not united.

Ques: the 2019 elections are around the corner, Nembe had been a flash point in past elections what message do you have for the people now ?

Ans: Actually Nembe generally  has been a flash point and Nembe Bassambiri  also had her portion of been a flash point, for so many years before now, but  recently when some of us became leaders of one of the political parties we tried to educate the people that  you don’t win elections by violence. You win elections by talking to the people, wooing the people, lobbying them, telling them what you will give to them what you can bring to them from wherever to the community.

Election is not by killing your brother election is not by harming your sister, election is to choose credible persons that represent you and bring development to the community over the years we have suffered so long, some people died during elections, but we are trying to educate our people. Before now, if a wife is a member of another party, as they come to the house they don’t talk to each other and that sometimes lead to separation…… but now we have changed the story we are now working as a team.

Members of different parties can now sit together, eat together and talk together on how to plan to win elections as elections are done, by lobbying. That’s what we are up to, we just recently signed a ‘Peace Accord ‘ and every party pledged that if any party be violent during the elections the community will sanction the offender the party or the candidate will be sanctioned we are believing that this year, we are going to have the most peaceful election, God willing!

Golden Pen: Thanks for granting the interview, we are going to try our best to inform the public, about what you have said.

Chief Isere: Am happy, welcoming you to interview me to correct the unfounded  rumors , because if rumors are not corrected, they  become realities, so I thank Golden Pen for giving me this opportunity to talk about these issues. From the dept  of my heart I wish  to thank you, Chief Tubonah and our Golden Pen Newspaper.