₦airaland Forum

Pass11:
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sunnewsonline.com/we-ve-sinned-ijaw-group-begs-oba-of-benin/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwivodCllI30AhUU5OAKHSWYBHUQFnoECAAQAg&usg=AOvVaw0F6dakzh_g6Fd93tM2bpTM

Anybody can post any nonesense online.
Benin say Ijaws are tenants. Why don't they collect rents from the hundreds of thousands of Ijaws in Edo state.
Anybody can write anything online.
Why can't Oba of Bini touch them.

Donaluta:
I'm not insulting your people... I'm only stating facts .. they should work on they character

Their character that won Miss world?
Which miss world your own people don win?
Or even any other people in Nigeria apart from Kalabari-Ijaw

Pass11:
You have started with your physically again, this is what you people online keep ranting and telling bini people until you people started crying and begging for peace

Your mumu.
When did Ijaw beg for peace.
Even Gelegelegbene till today Na Ijaw dey occupy am.

Fool.

Donaluta:
No wonder she dey misbehave ... Kalabari women with bad character.. naa 5 and 6..

Stop insulting our people.
Kalabari-Ijaw lady is the first miss world in Africa.

Kalabari-Ijaw woman is the only miss world Nigeria have ever had.
In the person of Agbani Darego.
Where your own good women dey

Pass11:
*Says Opobo founder aided industrial revolution with the West
*‘Like Jaja, I am reviving Nigeria’s trade with the world’
Chairman of BFI Group of Companies, Dr. Rueben Mietamuno Saturday Jaja, is the Chief and Head of Chief Prince Saturday Jaja War Canoe House, Opobo Kingdom, Opobo Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State.

He is the great-grandson of the late King Jaja of Opobo. In this interview, the former Director of the US Federal Reserve Bank speaks on the richness and uniqueness of Opobo royalty, African traditional institutions, and his acquisition of the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State among other issues.

By Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor


You were recently installed as the Alabo, Chief and Head of Chief Prince Saturday Jaja War Canoe House. Tell us what it means…

This War Canoe House was established in 1872 by King Jaja of Opobo for his first son, Crown Prince Saturday Jaja who died in 1894. Since then no one has ascended the stool until my installation as Alabo Soi Dee II which happened between 2018 and 5 February 2020 in Opobo town.



I am also an entrepreneur. I am the Chairman, BFI Group of Companies. I acquired the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State. I lived mostly in the United States, after my college education in Nigeria. And I came back to contribute to national development.

My people found me worthy, to bring my knowledge of the corporate world into the management of our kingdom. I am now the Alabo, the Chief Prince of the Jaja War Canoe House which is an autonomous War Canoe House established by King Jaja of Opobo, my great grandfather. He established it for his first son. It is a very big House. And I am privileged to lead at the moment.



So much has been said about King Jaja of Opobo. As his descendant, give us an insider’s account of who King Jaja was, what he achieved and represented and how the living descendants are sustaining his legacy?

King Jaja of Opobo was a man of a very unique life. He was a man determined to succeed and blessed by God. History maintained he was captured at the age of 12 and sold into slavery. He liberated himself and rose to become the chief of his group of houses in Bonny.



It is well known that the majority of the people from Opobo today were all part and parcel of the Bonny Kingdom. It was in 1869 that the Jaja Group of Houses, called the Opubo then, decamped, seceded from Bonny to open a new kingdom. When King Jaja founded Opubo town in 1870, he received British approval and recognition as king.

But most people tend to know him more of being a young man, sold to slavery after which he became a king. That is not all King Jaja was. One, he significantly committed himself to the protection of the sovereignty of the African man and his territory. Two, because of the trade in palm oil, he contributed immensely to the industrial revolution of the West.



When the West, particularly England, became the world’s workshop with the introduction of machines and automation, they were looking for oil to lubricate their machines when they moved from the agrarian stage to technology. That lubrication became oil and was found in Africa, West Africa in particular. Jaja dominated the trade, becoming number one in terms of the sales of palm oil.

That helped Britain in those days to drive the industrial revolution that was sweeping through Great Britain and later to other parts of the Western world. When I talk to people about it, I want them to remember these two major contributions -the sovereignty of the African people and the support he gave to accelerate the industrial revolution of the world.

Your new title is said to be second in rank, only to the throne of the king of Opobo. Is it hereditary?

It is. This stool I am now occupying, the Chief of is Chief Prince Saturday Jaja War Canoe House, as I mentioned earlier, the Saturday in the name was SoiDee. The white man couldn’t pronounce it, so he called it Saturday. He was the first son of King Jaja of Opobo. He was a crown prince.

When the Europeans removed King Jaja of Opobo, 1887, they didn’t allow his son, the crown prince to succeed him. They were afraid he would revolt against them. There was much commotion. Eventually, he was short changed and did not become King of Opobo. There were lots of conspiracies to undermine him. Then he left and died.

Since he died, nobody has succeeded until now that I have come. It has been over 130 years. It is hereditary. It is from the same lineage of the group that owns the house that they can pick an occupant or successor. Our custom, like other African cultures, allows the first son to become the crown prince.

In Opobo, we may have situations where the first son may not be sound and would not meet the aspiration of the kingdom. The Jajas have the right to pick somebody sound. Our current Amayanabo was selected by the Jaja Group of Families. And he is sound and has met the objectives of our people.

Traditional rulers were so powerful ruling over their domains in the pre-colonial era. Today, they are mere ceremonial heads without statutory roles. What do you make of their plight in the light of the overbearing control by government at all tiers?

There is no doubt there are some elements of confusion there when you draw the line in terms of the political sphere and the traditional rulers. Some traditional rulers are making a legitimate point on the situation, but some have compromised their position by getting involved in politics.

When you leave the sacred zone of being a traditional ruler, a father to all and begin to make direct or indirect insinuations that bring you into politics, you then find yourself in the situation you have cited. I strongly believe our governors and leaders want to allow traditional rulers to rule, but some traditional rulers have not understood properly how to maintain that balance which is a very delicate one.

On the whole, it is true that the politicians have now stepped in too far and too deep into the sphere exclusively reserved for traditional rulers. Like security, only the traditional rulers significantly know the security of their areas. They are better positioned to know who is who, know who the bad boys are in the area, maintain peace and security, far better than political officeholders.

When the politicians are using these same people to accomplish their aims, they leave the responsibility for the cleanup of the mess created for the traditional rulers to manage. Politicians recruit young men, use them to fight opponents. Thereafter who collects the guns from them? They keep those ammunitions, day and night, and continue to use them either to terrorize the weak or rob people or whatever they seem fit.

The traditional rulers are extremely essential, much as the politicians are.

How do you measure the value system in today’s Nigeria as it affects politics, economy and culture?

I have lived in the US for more than 37 years. I worked at the State of California Banking formation as Director of Regulatory Investigations. I have also worked with the US Federal Reserve Bank, in what they call the Inter-Agency Shared National Credit Programme.

My view is very global because I have interacted with serious organisations in the world. When I finished school I taught at National University as well as a distinct scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles where I received my Post-Doctoral Degree. And I have been honoured by various groups, particularly in the business community.

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I am the founder of the Africa USA Chamber of Commerce and Industry. I and then Mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Brown, worked to create a forum to bring African leaders to speak about trade and commerce between Africa and the US. Also, I served as Chairman of our indigenous groups in the diaspora, such as Rivers State Foundation, a forum of Rivers indigenes around the world, including the Ijaw Foundation. I used the platforms to create scholarships for all eligible students of Ijaw nation qualified to enter the Federal University Otuoke, when it was established.

These backgrounds have helped me to understand how to interact with our people on the socioeconomic lines. In my capacity, I know where to attract resources to deal with social problems at home. I believe strongly that the money of Nigeria, outside Nigeria, is more than the money that is in Nigeria. Put another way round, that the resources we can get outside are far more than the ones we have inside.

In specifics, bringing all the experiences over the years to bear, to justify the confidence your people reposed in you, what are the key areas you are looking at in fast-tracking development in Opobo?

As an ancient kingdom, Opobo has lots of goodwill and resources. On the manufacturing side of it, I look at ALSCON, designed to manufacture a wide range of aluminum outputs, up to 200, 000 metric tonnes in neighboring Ikot Abasi. If I take that over, I see an economic corridor to be created that touches all the Eastern seaboards.

I also see a connection to the North East because of the presence of bauxite in the North East Zone. The rail approved by government, if constructed, can build an economic balance between the two regions. When bauxite is brought here, we smelt it and ship it out to create employment on both sides.

In Opobo, we have huge resources in the sea. Fishing can be done at the commercial level in Opobo. We also have opportunities in dry dock and marine services because Opobo was a natural corridor of shipping in ancient times. That was Jaja’s ancient trade route. Most Abriba and Ohafia traders of ancient times got through that route.

Now, there is a road coming into Opobo, made possible by government. We have discovered huge lands people were afraid to go into in the past. This provides opportunities for real estate development. That is why the ALSCON is a catalyst. There is power, about 1040 megawatts there.

If the power is harnessed properly, it can greatly enhance development and broaden the power base even in the rural areas in the region and create an industrial park where companies can be resident.

You’ve been in this struggle for ALSCON for some time. Have the issues between the federal government and other interested parties been resolved?

It is still ongoing and we hope it is resolved soon because the aluminum smelting company is a very important asset to the Niger Delta development. Indeed, that project was built to accelerate the economic development of the region and also to solve the problem of pollution arising from oil and gas exploration, particularly for the gas being flared around the region.

The project was also developed to create jobs and opportunities for the region, particularly for the teeming youths who graduated from many universities and have nothing to give. When the plant started, there were about 800 employees in the region. As it stands today, the project has failed the region and the nation because the aluminum needs of the nation are not being provided domestically as expected.

How much progress has been made specifically in resolving this tussle for ALSCON?

Not much progress has been made, I would say. We are still putting pressure on them. We are still at the point of execution of the shares staking agreement along with all the annexes. We have several investors who have money to put into the business. There are about three, four of them. Some are from Germany. Some are from the US and some from Spain as well as from England. We have continued to appease them to standby and be ready whenever government is ready to resolve the issues.

What is your view about the African culture against its gradual erosion by Western culture?

The African culture is very deep and based on the way of life of the people. We are a people that see things in their natural forms and believe in the nature of things. But for the Europeans, for instance, they are more of confronting nature whereas we are more at adapting to nature. This wide view gives rise to the perception of how we see life and times and this shapes the world view of both sides.

Any political ambition?

I don’t have any. My people have called on me to do business and that is what I would do. My great grandfather was a successful businessman. He embarked on capitalist policy in the region and empowered men. My goal is to stay in the business area, create jobs, boost our reserve requirements, and place the Nigerian flag on our products so other parts of the world can buy them as made from Nigeria. Nigeria can sell to others, instead of us depending on others so much more.

If you have a minute or two with the President, what would you tell him about the widespread perception of failed leadership?

People could give different answers and some of them are right. I think our President means well. I know him. I had interacted with him in 2007. The problem is those working with him. What we need to do is to have a unified purpose as to what our economic aspirations are. What is the national aspiration plan? What is Nigeria actually aspiring to be? Then bring people who can unbundle that big question.

If you look at most of the other parts of the world, and you want to decouple what makes them great, remarkably you find out two things you can place your hands on that make their economy strong. They are their effective management of technology and capital. In Nigeria, we have huge land. That is not our problem. Labour is not a problem. The only thing we need to manage is technology and capital. Until you bring people who understand how to calibrate these two elements along with the two others that we have abundance in perfect alignment, that is when we will realise optimal economic growth and development.

As we continue to have non-alignment of these factors, except we decouple capital and technology, we would have challenges. When our President goes to visit the rich, developed nations, you just don’t go and talk to the President of that country. Take the US for instance. Most of them go, have briefs with the President on economic plans and they leave. That is not where you should put your emphasis.

You need to meet the fund managers on Wall Street. They are the ones responsible for the global allocation of capital in the world. Monday morning, young men assemble and spread the map of the world. To one they say handle Europe portfolio, another, North America, others Central America, Asia. Young chaps just out of Harvard with clean pieces of suits.

One of them can give an account of over five trillion dollars he has invested in Europe. They give similar accounts on Asia, Canada, Mexico, North and South America. And when they finish and are done for the day, you hear nothing about Africa. They allocate to all other regions. So we have the entire Africa starved, in shortage of capital.

Vanguard News Nigeria

Stop fenting out your frustrations here.
Opobo are in all Ijaw socia-cultural organizations, with us Kalabari, without they leaving even one behind that they are not in.
But they are not even in one Ibo own.

Go and claim them physical, and stop writing big nonesense here.

afube:
we dominate you in every sphere of endeavour both home and abroad...........you actually believe you stand a chance in hell on the battlefield with Ndigbo! well, every "boxer" has a plan until the first punch removes all your front teeth! We have taken Port Harcourt completely .......in due time we shall also take Bonny and Opoboas well, there is nothing you can do about it!

All your nonesense end here Wakirike part of Port Harcourt comes with Ijaw Republic same with Bonny and Opobo.
Landlocked dot circle Biafra Republic.
Stop facing him he is saying the truth all una lies end here.
Same way you guys were lying everywhere that we Kalabari say we are not Ijaw when in reality it's never ever so.
Boma that don't even know how to speak his dialect of Ijaw and grew
Far away from Kalabari land.all una lies and frustrations end here.
No where e reach and it's very far from the reality.
All Ijaws share perfect boundaries with each other, and Okrika part of Port Harcourt comes with Ijaw Republic we will put country border there between the two sides.

Foolish Ibo people.
This is why all tribes hate them.
Liars from the pit of hell.

rushlife:
Anambra

Paul's wife is Ijaw.

Supermarvel89:
She is not Ikwerre.
She is from Buguma, capital of the Kalabari kingdom

But know that Kalabari is a Subgroup inside the Ijaw Ethnicity.
Same with the Nembe Subgroup
Wakirike subgroup
Ibani subgroup
Engenni subgroup
Kolokuma subgroup Etc.
Those who know nothing about our history should stop destroying Kalabari-Ijaw image with other of our Ijaw relatives.
I hate this.

How do you say Kalabari is not Ijaw when our Ancestors came from Perebo-Mein.
In the Mein Kingdom area of present Western Ijaw part of Bayelsa State.
Stop believing nonesense on Nairaland, and be hearing from the real people that know history, grow in his area and can speak his dialect of Ijaw.
I repeat we are full blooded Ijaw.
Stop believing every nonesense you see on Nairaland.
Boma that was born far away from Kalabari land.
If you ask Boma to speak his Kalabari dialect of Ijaw, he cannot even do it.
Stop trying to destroy our image, with our other Ijaw relatives.

Ikpongiton:
kalabaris are saying that they are not ijaws

I'm from Buguma in the Kalabari subgroup of Ijaw.
And we are full blooded Ijaws.
Stop believing every nonesense you see haters of Ijaw writing on Nairaland.

giftibo:
The leader of the Ijaw Republic Liberation Movement Militant Forces.
General Ditari, whike speaking from the Ijaw Republic on Monday 8 of November 2021.

Forward this message worldwide.

I have not been making myself public all these while, because i was arranging and preparing all the Ijaw defence since.
But from right now I will be doing it.
We Ijaws are tired of Nigeria and we are taking our destiny in our own hands.
Ijaw alone produces over 90 percent of all Nigeria crude oil, and all we get in return is marginalization and Balkanization into more than 6 States when all Ijaw areas share perfect boundaries with each other.
We are tired of Nigeria, we refused to be bribed with our own money every month, in the name of Amnesty salary. Its either they make Ijaw none Balkanized or we start the war all over, destroy all pipelines, and cripple Nigeria economy once and for all.
We were unjustly Balkanized into Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom States, with only Bayelsa as the only Homogenous Ijaw state.
Bayelsa is bigger than 10 Nigerian States.
We are not afraid.
We are not ibos and Yorubas that will be arrested for asking for their rights, and nothing will happen to the curse called Nigeria.
Our demands are.
1.Make Ijaw tribe none Balkanized.
2.increase the number of LGA in Bayelsa because the people you fail to cross waters to their towns,and count, then you give little number as their population, these people will come outside from all their creeks and cause massive destructions.
Every other people's mineral resources are for them alone, Northern Gold is 100 percent for Northerners and only Ijaw crude oil that's for everybody.
If the Nigerian government fail to make the Ijaw tribe none Balkanized Ijaw Republic is our 100 percent only solution.
And we take it by force by destroying all pipelines leaving Ijaw Nation.

Forward this write up worldwide.
General Ditari Speaks.

God bless my hero General Ditari.
God bless the Ijaw Republic.

Biafrarep:
Ijaw republic indeed, with how many local governments? You don't even have a single town talk more of city yet you're dreaming of having a republic.

Ogogoro is not good at all.

All your lies and frustrations end here.

Ebi2233:
Since Ijaws are going for Ijaw Republic with all the Ijaws that were unjustly Balkanized into more than Six States, which are Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom States, when all Ijaw share perfect boundaries with each other, and are fully together.
The remaining people can form the South Republic Na.
Since all they know is insult Ijaw, now that Ijaw is leaving them, and don't want to play the big brother role again, dem don confuse.
Other South South should form a South Republic without Ijaw in it, or they should join Biafra.
Ijaw Republic or nothing else.

God bless the Ijaw Republic.
God bless General Ditari.

Thank-you my brother.

Ijaw Republic or nothing else.

We will put country boundaries between Wakirike part of Port Harcourt and the other place.


God bless the Ijaw Republic God bless our Ijaw hero General Ditari.

The Ijaw Republic flag.

Biafrarep:
Ijaw republic indeed, with how many local governments? You don't even have a single town talk more of city yet you're dreaming of having a republic.

Ogogoro is not good at all.

Atleast we don't do 419 worldwide like Ibo.
We don't do prostitution worldwide like Ibo.
We don't use family for rituals lie Ibo.
We don't carry hard drugs worldwide like Ibo.

Biafrarep:
Ijaw republic indeed, with how many local governments? You don't even have a single town talk more of city yet you're dreaming of having a republic.

Ogogoro is not good at all.

Okrika part of Port Harcourt comes with Ijaw Republic.
YENAGOA is another very fast upcoming city.

The first picture is some part of Yenagoa the second picture is some part of Okrika part of Port Harcourt.

Ebi2233:
Ijaw don reject other South South people.
Ijaw Republic we stand.
E suprise them well well.

Because we totally reject another Nigeria that little minorities will want to be disturbing we the Ijaws, that are majority but quiet on it.

Ebi2233:
Captain8 these guys say your Egbema people, balkanized into Delta and Edo,are ibos.

Robbstark these guys say there are no Ijaws in Rivers State.

Ijoh these guys say Bayelsa is not a very big State population wise.



Captain8.
Robbstark.
Ijoh.

Which of them can duty federal government to be paying their people salaries every month without end,

Them think say no be number of people federal government fear?
Many of them have crude oil too, why don't they do the same.
My brother, I don't waste my time with this foolish haters of the powerful Ijaw tribe again.
Nairaland give them enough space to be saying nonesense that they can't say in public.

GreatBoss:
Ijaws were unjustly Balkanized into Ondo Edo Delta Bayelsa Rivers and Akwa-Ibom state.
When all Ijaws are together and they share perfect boundaries with each other just to share Ijaw oil and weaken Ijaw unity.
Ijaw produces over 90 percent of all Nigeria crude oil.

Very bad.

FreeIgboho:
Which kind mumu flag be this? Meaning what?

Meaning Ijaw is fully rejecting Nigeria as it's country.

True.