Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has been urged to quickly intervene to stem the tide of the looming chieftaincy crisis, tearing the Opobo community apart.
The ancient community of Opobo in Opobo/Nkoro local government area of Rivers state has been thrown into serious disarray over the royal and ancient stool of Cookey-Gam War Canoe House, a royal title said to have been reserved mainly for the biological descendants of the founder of the royal house.
While the biological descendants of the founder are solely laying claim to the royal stool, another member of the House and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. S.J.S Cookey said he is also qualified for the stool.
One of the elders of the War Canoe House, Warisenibo Sam Alexander George Pepple said “the King of Opobo Dandeson Jaja is geared towards supporting the second burial of late Chief Cookey Gam IV without seeking the permission of the late Chief’s surviving children as well as other relatives”.
Such act, he said has given rise to unending tension in the community, even as one of the youths, Adonye Goodhead has alleged of possible invasion of the community by militants from neighbouring communities.
According to George Pepple, unless urgent steps are taken by the governor as well as the security agencies to arrest the ugly situation, the once most—peaceful community might witness serious bloodshed.
“The War Canoe House of Chief Cookey Gam is an ancient stool founded in the early 1800s and successor stool of the Ibolu Dynasty”, he stated.
Tracing the ancestry house, he noted that, “Prince Ibolu was the first son of King Perekule of Bonny and his Princely House moved completely under the leadership of Chief Cookey-Gam to Opobo, after the Opobo-Bonny civil war in 1870.
Chief Cookey Gam was a blood descendant of Prince Ibolu and traces his root also to ancient Kings like King Wari Dappa of Bonny and King Ogbodo of Nembe”.
According to him, “the unrivalled aristocrat in the history of Opobo, Chief Cookey Gam is an ‘Aseme’, ‘Asemebo’ or ‘Aseme-Owutuwo’, an eastern Ijaw title, which means a person of aristocratic-nobility, aristocratic-birth or aristocratic-descent as the chieftaincy house of this nature is called Aseme-wari, meaning ‘house (family) of aboriginal royal status’.
“So, it is completely alien for such stools to pass on to anyone who is not a direct descendant of its founder or noble status”, he added.
