Buguma city: Celebrating king Princewill’s 11-year reign
By Eze Chukwuemeka Eze
March 23 2013 will remain
evergreen in the minds of the Kalabari people as they rolled out the drums to
celebrate the 11th year Anniversary of the reign of their King, the
Amanyanabo of Kalabari Kingdom, HRM King (Prof) T.J.T Princewill, JP, CFR,
(Amachree XI). The celebration of this man of excellence
started with a thanksgiving service at Our Saviour’s Church Cathedral, Buguma
City and ended with a grand ceremony at the famous King Amachree Memorial Hall,
Buguma City.
The officiating Minister Rt Reverend I. Akin
Falana (JP ), Bishop of the Rivers Diocese of the Church described the 11th
Anniversary of the 11th Amachree of Kalabari Kingdom as epical and
historical noted that the King who is the 11th King of the Kalabari
Kingdom is celebrating his 11thAnniversary in a church in Buguma
founded about 100 years ago. He tasked the Monarch to ensure that he carried
out the purpose he is on the throne. Reverend Falana reminded the King that
people will take records of what he has done and as such, he should continue to
do the things that would please the greater populace and God Almighty. According
to him, "Any service you render as the King either religious or
developmental, should be something good that people should refer to. We expect
that it is purposeful and meaningful for the interest of the people”, he said.
At the famous King Amachree Memorial Hall,
Buguma City, the King with the help of Dame Florence T.J.T. Princewill the
Queen of the Kalabari Kingdom and some of his Senior Chiefs cut the 11th
Anniversary Cake. The Kalabari Council of Chiefs through the Chairman of the
Occasion, His Royal Highness, Chief O.C. Tom Big Harry JP, Odigbo VI, Omubo VIII decorated King Prof TJT Princewill and Queen Florence TJT
Princewill with new designer insignia inscribed with their names and titles.
In the opening remarks, HRH Chief O.C. Tom Big
Harry, JP, Odigbo VI, Omubo VIII, who chaired the event stated that “we all are
gathered here not only to celebrate the Amachree XI, an icon, an embodiment of
peace, a visionary, an unassuming leader whose humility is infectious and whose
prowess and administrative acumen has brought direction, purposeful development
to our kingdom and to motivate him to continue with his exemplary leadership
and good deeds”.
A brief account of the celebrant presented by
HRH Chief Harry shows that, His Majesty, King T.J.T Princewill, JP, CFR, is an
academic Professor of great repute who was born on 4th January, 1930 to the
royal family of the Kalabari at Buguma in Rivers State of Nigeria. He ascended
the throne of his forebears as the Amanyanabo of Kalabari Kingdom on 23rd
March, 2002 and was recognized as a First Class Traditional Ruler by the Rivers
State Government the same year he was installed as the Amanyanabo of Kalabari
in 2002.
He started his academic pursuit at the famous
Baptist School, Buguma in 1934 at the tender age of 4yrs and was adjudged the
youngest ever in that school. He graduated in 1946. After series of passage
through various other schools, he ended up at University of Leeds, England from
where he obtained his Ph.D. Degree in Microbiology in 1975. He has to his credit,
over 30 publications published in scientific Journals from 1965 to 1988.
He served as Head of Department of
Microbiology University of Port Harcourt from 1982-1984. Dean of Students
Affairs of University of Port Harcourt from 1985-1986, Dean, School of
Graduates Studies, University of Port Harcourt, 1987-1990; Dean, Faculty of
Science, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt from
1991-2000. During this time he also distinguished himself as a Lecturer and
External Examiner to various Universities in Nigeria.
Further, as an internationally acclaimed
scholar, he is a fellow of several academic bodies including, the Society for
General Microbiology (UK), Society for Applied Bacteriology (UK), British Spore
Group, Nigerian Society for Immunology, Nigerian Society for Animal Production
and countless other societies both in Nigeria and other countries.
Locally he has also distinguished himself and
has served in various capacities which include; member of Rivers State Advisory
Council from 1999-2007. Member, Rivers State Peace and Reconciliation Committee
from 2006 to 2007. Decorated as the Grass Root Royal Father of the year 2005
(GRRF).
The great King of the Kalabari Kingdom is the
first Professor King in Rivers State and the first King from Rivers State to be
decorated by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Commander of
the Order of the Federal Republic, CFR. He is also the first
Kalabari King to Chair the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers and the First King of the Kalabari Kingdom to be
appointed a Pro-Chancellor of a University. His policy of allowing sister towns
and villages to present their chiefs to the Kalabari Council of Chiefs for
installation without passing through any family in Buguma, Abonnema and Bakana
(as was the case previously) is unprecedented. This has allowed all chiefs of
all towns in Kalabari to attend Kalabari Se Kobiri without being installed
Chiefs at the Kalabari Se level. This is also unprecedented He is the first
Professor King of Kalabari Kingdom and indeed Rivers State. He is the first
Kalabari King to institute a Scholarship Scheme for indigent Kalabari Students
in Tertiary Institutions and the first King in Rivers State to institute a
Scholarship Scheme for indigent students of Rivers origin in tertiary
institution. The number of Chiefs installed in his reign is unprecedented.
A believer, proponent and custodian of the
culture of our people, he has during his reign revived and organized our
Owu-Aru-Sun festival which was held on 29th January, 2009 after the
last one was held in 1991 and have a few days ago hosted the Alagba Masquerade
festival the pride of our strength and power in the kingdom.
I think that the great Philosopher, Plato may
have had King Princewill in mind when he posited one of his greatest quotes on
leadership and politics, “There will be no end to the
troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in
this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become
philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same
hands”. This silent revolutionist has lived out the above
theses as he is truly one of the most outstanding Philosopher Kings in the
present day Nigeria and has during his reign brought not only peace (that is
panacea to any development) but has influenced several locations of government
projects to the Kingdom like the sand filling reclamation expansion in Buguma,
the Fishing Industry, Modern Secondary and Primary Schools amongst many others.
The fact remains that “There are Kings and there are Kings”. It is
not sitting on the throne that matters, but being endowed with wisdom to lead;
our King, like good kola nut, lasts long in the mouth of those that value it. To his credit, the great Diogenes foretold
and stated even before the emergence of King (Prof) Princewill that “Wise kings generally have wise
counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing
one”. The fact remains that some of us who are members of the
Kalabari Kingdom Council of Chiefs feel humbled by his wisdom and infectious
humility and we sincerely thank God for granting us such a leader at this time
of our history.
As a great scholar, he has initiated a lot of
seminars and lectures to bring enlightenment and chart a path of progress and
greatness for our kingdom and we are very appreciative for all these efforts.
Prior to the installation of King (Prof) Princewill, insecurity
was the hallmark of the kingdom. Kalabari Kingdom at this period 2002 -2007 of
insecurity occasioned by the militancy when lives of our people and property
were destroyed at random without respect to the sanctity of human life. In
short this period was the years
of 'darkness, backwardness and Annihilation' when militia groups kidnap, maim, struggle for territorial control but to the
credit of this visionary and man of Peace, the Kingdom is totally at peace.
Governor, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi
aptly captured the sorrow state of Kalabari Kingdom when he stated, “that by
70/80s the Kalabari Kingdom had produced the highest numbers of Lawyers and
Medical Doctors in the State and instead of maintaining the trend there had
been a reversal in recent years with majority of the youths in the area
resorting to bunkering and militancy, which in themselves are acts that
mitigate against any form of development in the area. Sadly, some of these
youths harass Contractors who operate within the Kingdom. As much as I am very
interested in the emancipation and development of the Kalabari Kingdom the fact
remains that development cannot come to the area under situation of insecurity.
But to the glory of God, the security
challenges in the Kalabari Kingdom are now in the past and I am happy to note
that the King and his council have done their best to sustain peace in the Kingdom
and in the words of Ariel Sharon, “I am 73 years old. I've seen
everything. I've met the kings, the queens, the presidents; I've been around
the world. I have one thing that I would like to do: to try to reach peace”. The present Kalbari Council of Chiefs with
this great man has restored and will continue to embark on projects that
promote peace amongst our people“
HRH Chief O.C. Odibo Tom Big Harry in his remarks congratulated and commended the
Rivers State Government, Kalabari people and security organs in the State to
have ignored some group of people who have continued to sow seed of discord
among our people and plant false publications in the papers about the stool of
our King whose 11 years of golden reign has made us a proud and progressive
Kingdom. He further stated that, “for avoidance of doubt, let me reiterate that
the stool of the Amanyanabo of Kalabri Kingdom is not in contention and shall
never be in contention as God has blessed us with one. The efforts and plots of
those trying to plunge us back into the period of darkness shall never
succeed”.
HRH Chief Harry described the King in the
words of Lao Tzu, “I have three precious things which I hold fast
and prized. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is
humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you
can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before
others and you can become a leader among men”. King Prof TJT Princewill is
truly a leader in whom we are all proud of.
One of the major highpoints of the event was
the decoration and recognition of the feats of the following Kings towards the
upliftment of the Kalabari Kingdom – HRH Alabo O.C. Odibo Tom Big Harry (JP)
Odibo VI, Omubo VII, Chief Daobu E.S. Amachree (JP), Chairman Buguma/Kalabari
Council of Chiefs; HRH Iboroma Pokubo Amanyanabo of Minama; HRH Iwari Bala,
Amanyanabo of Krakrama. In their separate speeches, they acknowledged and
thanked His Majesty King Prof TJT Princewill for providing an enabling
environment that enabled them to contribute towards the development of their
various communities.
The climax of the event was the formal vote of
confidence on the king. HRH Chief Harry who moved the motion stated, “May I based on the great feats of King Prof TJT
Princewill during his reign on behalf of the Kalabari Council of Chiefs and the
entire communities of the Kalabari Kingdom pass a vote of confidence on our
God-given King, HM King (Prof) Princewill, Amachree XI as we pray God to bestow
on him more wisdom and good health to continue his good works in our Kingdom as
our King. This was received with thunderous standing ovation by all members of
the Council of Chiefs and mammoth crowd that attended the historical event.
The King later answered some questions posed
to him by some of the Journalists present at the event. On the threat by Shell
to reduce royalties accruing to the community, the visible angry King on this
issue thundered, “we will resist any plan by
oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC to reduce royalties
accruing to the area, due to rising incidents of crude oil theft in the Niger
Delta or for any reason whatsoever”. Shell keeps mentioning that they were
going to shut down their Trunk line for the last six years or so, They gave us
some money which we used in providing projects. Now that they are coming to the
second phase of that agreement, they call it Global Memorandum of Understanding
(G-MoU). Now, instead of increasing the lots (they call it mandate) that is due
to us (the Kalabari People), they want to reduce it by more than half, whereas
in the last five years that they were operating, there was a promise to have 10
per cent increase annually. Instead of finding it necessary to review it
upwards now that they are going to enter into a new agreement, they want to
slash it down by more than a half. Of course, the Kalabaris will not agree. If
what they are doing is to make us suffer for it, we ask them (Shell) to pack up
their things (facilities) and go, because we will not beg them to come and do
it. If they don’t do it, there are other companies that will come in to do it.
For many years now in Ogoni area, Shell is not operating, yet Nigeria has not
died.
If we stop Shell from operating in our
territory, Nigeria will not die and that is our position. So, they say they are
going to close down their operation, we say not only closing down, pack your
things and go. That is what we have said to them (Shell)”.
King (Prof)
Princewill however said that if youths in the area were found culpable over
allegations of crude theft, the Kalabari Council of Chiefs would intervene, but
noted that oil and the control of the resource was essentially the business of
the government.
On the constitutional role for Traditional
Rulers in the country the King stated that, “Traditional Rulers have greater
roles to play in ensuring development, security and actualization of government
policies if given a role in the constitution.
The Monarch reminded all that in 1914,the
traditional rulers in the coastal areas resisted the highly educated and well
equipped European influences, but regretted that the present constitution did
not recognize the roles of the traditional rulers.
According to him, we have made several
attempts and meetings both in the state and at the national level concerning
the roles of traditional rulers; we hope that it will be included. "We
hope to have a constitutional role and powers not only at the local level, but
also at the state and national”, he said.
On how he will like to be remembered, the
Monarch stated that he would like to be remembered for the peace he has brought
in the three local governments areas of Kalabari and his attempt to increasing
the lots of the youths of the Kalabaris.
"I want my people to remember me for the
attempts I have made for increasing the lifes of our youths by offering
scholarships to Kalabari and other students of other local government area in
Rivers State" he said.
He noted that education is the bedrock of any
civilization, adding that if we are to make any progress, we must invest more
in education.
The Monarch explained that his Scholarship
scheme which is an annual event will continue to increase the list and numbers
of recipient yearly to accommodate more students.
Eze
Chukwuemeka Eze is a Media Consultant based in Port Harcourt
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