Where is the Kalabari Governor of Rivers State?

Posted by admin Columnists, P Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

By Phil Tam-Al Alalibo, New Nigerian Politics – May 11, 2008

Even as their cup runnth over in ways that would make their biblical cousins green with envy, the Kalabaris have failed to transform their good fortunes into political capital in Rivers State and one often wonders why this tribe of overachievers cannot navigate its way to the pinnacle of the political mountain in the last four decades. With the antecedent on the ground at the moment, it would be easier for the Biblical camel to pass through the eye of a needle before a kalabari man would be governor of Rivers State. There are no easy answers for this disturbing trend, but one can surmise that the kalabaris are interdicted by the demons of avidity that have possessed them to so mindlessly prostitute their souls to the highest political bidder against their collective political advancement

To catalogue their aggregate contributions to the development of Rivers State and Nigeria would be a task too daunting to undertake and one certain to dry-up a million pens, but yet, it scales human comprehension that they labor under the yoke of political marginalization and are invariably consumed by the politics of egocentricity and self-absorption. They have, thus, become their own political enemies, the very log in their path to political assertion and emancipation, if you will. An even more intriguing point about this mass of humanity is the fact that they constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in the state and if we believe the tenets of democracy that uphold ”majority rule”, then the kalabaris have flaunted this theory much to the displeasure of its framers

In what sphere of life have they not excelled to be so excluded from the cherished corridors of political power in Rivers State? Even in the realm of triviality, if I may venture, we need not mention that their men, often cultured and well-groomed, are some of the most educated and handsome (like yours truly – you must indulge me here) gentlemen in the Nigerian landscape. And their women, flirty as they are, are attractive, assertive, intelligent and some would say, overbearing (I agree). Even so, men of all ethnicities flock lustfully to the twenty-three islands that make up the great Kalabari Kingdom in search of wives

For we speak of a people that have since made their marks in science, law, medicine, diplomacy, government, arts (remember Rex Jim Lawson) and even in football with the likes of the “horned” Taribo West, chief defender (with profound apologies to Chairman Christian Chukwu) for the Super Eagles and many top flight teams in Europe, including Inter Milan in the Serie A in Italy. If Taribo’s success was by happenstance, the cynics would be silenced when they hear of Finidi George, a seemingly infallible right winger for the Super Eagles and many top teams in Europe, Ajax, ( Holland), Real Beatis ( Spain), Ipswich ( England), etc. whose creativity on the field installed the fear of God in many defenders

And those enchanted by worldly endeavors would not let us forget so hastily that it was in November, 2001, that one Miss Agbani Darego, a leggy, pulchritudinous and sinfully ravishing daughter of Kalabari, won the Miss World title on the global stage in South Africa, the first ever Nigerian, African and black to be so exalted. With illustrious sons like the veritable and loquacious Prof. Tam David-West, Buhari’s petroleum minister and Babangida’s mines & power minister, Tonye Harry, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Martins-Yellowe, former senator, Chief Ombo Isokrari, Chief Paworiso Samuel-Horsfall, Odein Ajumogobia, Tonye Graham-Douglas, Ben Briggs, Boma Bromillo Jack, Nabo Graham-Douglas, former minister, the late Dr. Marshall Harry, Dan Isokrari, M. T. Akobo and many more, one would be easily forgiven for mistakenly believing that the Kalabaris command the levers of political power in Rivers State

But sadly, since 1967 when Rivers achieved statehood, the roll call of governors does not include any Kalabari kinsman; this is in spite of the fact that this exalted position has made the rounds, sometimes, auspiciously, among other ethnic groups, the Nembes (Diete Spiff), the Ijaws (Melford Okilo), the Wakirikis (Okrika), (Rufus Ada George) the Ndonis, (Peter Odili) and the Ikwerres (Celestine Omehia and Rotimi Amaechi). But where is the Kalabari governor? I should note at this junction that having a governor from one’s ethnic group should be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things as long as citizens of integrity and purpose are elected or appointed no matter their ethnic affiliation. So true, but this case underscores a frightening and indeed worrisome trend and the dearth of political will in the Kalabaris of today, especially, when we know that democracy is predicated on the voice of the majority.

And if one argues that the governorship is too high a stool for them, I cannot recall a Kalabari claiming the consolatory deputy governorship. Frank Eke, deputy governor to Okilo was not a Kalabari, Peter Odili, deputy governor to Rufus Ada George, was not a Kalabari and the old man, Sir Gabriel Toby, deputy governor to Odili was not a Kalabari. Even Tele Ikuru, current deputy governor, though one of those who flocked to Kalabari kingdom to pluck a wife, is himself not from Kalabari. Ironically, his lovely wife may be the closest any Kalabari would get to the Brick House (Government House) in Port-Harcourt in the foreseeable future. But I may have spoken too soon as I am surely contradicted by the fact that only a few months ago, a Kalabari man was indeed governor of Rivers State, for a few hours – the Speaker of the House of Assembly became Acting “Governor” Tonye Harry, who tended to the affairs of the state after Celestine Omehia was abruptly sacked by the Supreme Court for election irregularities and before Rotimi Amaechi assumed office.

And this type of ad hoc recognition of the Kalabaris aptly sums up the marginalized role they play in Rivers State politics – employed only when needed, and hurriedly dumped like a prostitute in the highbrow new Government Reserved Area (GRA) of the oil city when the powers that be no longer need their services. If the Kalabaris were united against tyranny and divisive leadership, the likes of Peter Odili, with no political pedigree from a relatively unknown Ndoni would never have been governor of the state. Many of us still recall that the 1999 governorship election was, in truth, won by a Kalabari man, Chief Ebenezer Isokrari, but for the timely intervention of the then military administrator, (MILAD) Group Captain Samuel Ewang, who based on religious considerations tailored the results in Odili’s favor. They said Odili was a Catholic, therefore eminently qualified to be governor

Shortly after the election, it became painfully evident that the Kalabaris, in large, did not support their own, colluding with the Ewangs of the day to wrestle power from the presumptive winner of the election. In a most convoluted irony – lest we forget, there has indeed been a governor from Kalabari, but he presided over the “wrong” state, so to speak – Navy officer Ibim Princewill was governor of Cross River State from 1986-89. If only the Kalabaris can remove the “Cross”, they would have reached the pinnacle of the elusive mountain top. But his kinsman, UK based engineer, Prince Tonye Princewill, son of the Kalabari monarch was on target when he declared his candidacy for the governorship of Rivers in 2007 under the banner of the Action Congress Party. However, he soon tested the Kalabari political apathy when his bid to become the 14th governor of the state hardly enthused a majority of his kinsmen. Before him, in the 2003 elections, the likes of millionaire Sergeant Awuse, an Ikwerre man, teaming up with Ipalibo Harry, a Kalabari and former classmate, as deputy governorship candidate under the ANPP banner soon realized Odili’s sordid manipulation of the state’s political machinery and his impregnable political fortress. With the opposition and members of the House of Assembly virtually eating from the palms of his hands, having accepted the carrots dangled by the Brick House, Odili cruised to a second term. But I must commend my friend Ipalibo Harry for advancing the political prospects of the Kalabaris even in a failed attempt at power

Invariably, one can now see how the political afflictions of the kalabaris are self-imposed as they pander to the powers of the day. And those that did not pander were given an express ticket to eternity – I bring to your attention the demise of Dr. Marshall Harry gunned down in Abuja on March 3, 2003 just after he defected to the ANPP, thus foreclosing any hopes of reconciliation with the PDP and Odili. So who killed Marshall Harry – your guess is as good as mine. Kalabari’s political misfortunes accruing over the years like interest on stolen billions in a politician’s foreign account climaxed in Odili’s eight years when he sowed the seed of discord in their kingdom, a feat that saw the highly respected Kalabari King (His Royal Highness Theophilus Princewill – the Amayanabo) taking refuge in Port-Harcourt unable to return to his shattered kingdom wrath by Odili’s venom.

Such anomaly only confirms the subaltern deposition of the Kalabaris and points, sadly enough, to an even greater political tragedy of the dearth of self-determination and political effrontery among this persecuted lot. In the midst of the personalities mentioned above, lowly Odili could not have destabilized the Kalabaris, if not for the divisive politics visited on them and consummated by the twin evil of militancy and thuggery, Odili’s gift to the Kalabari people

In May 2007, I visited Tombia, one of the islands in the Kalabari Kingdom and saw first hand Odili’s manifestation of evil. I was moved to tears by the devastation occasioned by the agents of disunity sponsored by Odili in his bid to demoralize the Kalabari spirit and ensure their continued subservience to his whims. I was told by an old man in the village, one of the very few left, that they came and destroyed everything even animals. He could not phantom why this had occurred. When I asked him “who is they”, he simply looked at me as if to say “where have you been all this time?

Nine months later, in February 2008, I was again moved to tears when Governor Rotimi Amaechi visited Buguma and displayed his generosity with the donation of a 3000 KVA generator to the town. The import of this executive gesture should not be lost on anyone – that the ancient city of Buguma, after all these decades and being home to the most influential Kalabaris, the Amachrees, David-Wests, Graham-Douglases, the Tonye Harrys, not to mention being the seat of the monarchy still depends on generator for electricity and not connected to the national grid. An even more insulting twist to the governor’s largesse is the appearance that the proud Kalabari people have been reduced to handouts.

Without political power, development has continued to elude the kalabaris as they suffer polluted lands, creeks and waterways compounded now by the torment of militancy which Amaechi in his ignorance attributed to the Kalabaris, exonerating as it may, his paymaster, Odili, whom he served for eight years as speaker and personal assistant when he (Odili) was deputy governor. I was still in Nigeria when Okilo transformed his village – Amakalakala into a modern robust town using the occasion of his mother’s funeral to accomplish the magic. With petro dollars, Odili’s village (Ndoni) remains one of the most developed in the state as is his wife’s (Mary) village in Imo State – aren’t we our brother’s keepers? But what happened to the Trans-Kalabari highway that is supposed to connect the major towns in the Kalabari kingdom?

In 2008, Kalabaris still have to brave the high seas to visit their villages and God help you if you cannot swim in the event of a mishap for your fate would then be determined by the hunger levels of the carnivores of the sea, and let’s not forget “Mammy Water”. It becomes a vexing point to note that this was a project Odili could not complete even with the benefit of $12 billion US dollars allocated to the state in the eight years he held sway. After many years of studying and working in America, I returned to Nigeria to find Abonnema Wharf in a most primitive and worst condition and to think that this is a major exit point to the ancient town of Buguma and several other parts of the great Kingdom of Kalabari.

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Posted by admin on Dec 22 2010. Filed under Columnists, P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry