Joint Communique, Insulting to Amanyanabo, Bonny Kingdom; Wrong Approach to Agitation – Chief Dan-Jumbo

The pungency, panache and penetrative punches of his deliveries on issues sometimes appear unmatched, so is his firm grasp, immersive understanding and fluid passion for his people, tradition, culture and history. Se-Alabo Clinton Ibiwari Gibson Dan-Jumbo, Jene IV, Chief and Head of Dan-Jumbo Chieftaincy House of Bonny Kingdom, is also an International Commercial and Maritime lawyer, Head of Offender Management Delivery in the United Kingdom, and several roles.

In this no-holds-barred interview with the Publisher of Kristina Reports, Godswill Jumbo, he brings clarity to the controversy surrounding his recent clap back at a joint communique by the Brown and Jumbo Major Houses of Bonny Kingdom, land acquisition paradigm in Bonny Kingdom, roles of various international oil and gas companies operating in Bonny, as well as shed light on why Bonny Kingdom has not been able maximize the blessing of having multinationals on its land for over 66 years. Dive in, please.

Kristina Reports: Se-Alabo, I know you need no introduction in Bonny Kingdom, but for the sake our readers in diaspora, please introduce yourself.

Se-Alabo Clinton Dan-Jumbo: I am Se-Alabo Clinton Ibiwari Dan-Jumbo, Esq. Jene IV, Chief and Head of the Dan-Jumbo House of Grand Bonny Kingdom. I am currently a Prison Governor (Head of Offender Management Delivery) in the United Kingdom. I am also a lawyer and a developmentalist.

It’s about one year since you were capped chief, presented to the Amanyanabo who subsequently inducted you into the Bonny Chiefs Council. How has it been?

To be honest, it is now eight months since my presentation to the Amanyanabo-in-Council, and in response to your question, it has not been easy, especially, as I am still shuttling between Nigeria and the United Kingdom where I currently live and work. In any case, I am trying to put structures in place to drive things in the House. As you may already know, the Dan-Jumbo House did not have a Chief for approximately 28 years, meaning the House was stagnant. By the special grace of God, I am currently working towards the commissioning of three projects – an Opuwari, a jetty donated to the Dan-Jumbo House by my younger brother, Dr. Fubara Dan-Jumbo, and an Electricity project donated by my father, late Elder Gibson Dan-Jumbo, before he died. Interestingly, he wasn’t alive to see to the completion of the project, but he left money for its completion.

Amidst the myriads of challenges facing Jumbo House, it appears the one of securing her resources has become more topical. Do you agree? 

Yes, I completely agree with you. The reason for this is because it has become obvious to me and to a large percentage of the members of the Jumbo House and by Jumbo House, I mean John-Jumbo, Dan-Jumbo and Jumbo Major House, that our collective wealth has almost been hijacked by persons of questionable character. And I mean persons who have served their personal interest instead of the interest of the Jumbo House. Please note this, any leader who relies on the House wealth to achieve financial stability will wreck such a House.  I have been reliably informed that some persons who bear the name Jumbo have made away with humongous sums of money belonging to the House.  While some persons ran away with as much as N300 million, some others are being prosecuted by the Inspector General for going to the bank and withdrawing as much as N500 million; and all of these happened under the very watch of the Elders Council of the Jumbo Major House. I will not talk about countless plots of land belonging to the Jumbo House, which I gathered are constantly being sold by criminal elements. I plan to consult with elders and well-meaning individuals across the three Houses of the Jumbo House to put measures in place to stem this wicked act. This may include arresting and prosecuting anyone caught selling Jumbo House lands without due process. Honestly, I don’t understand how the Jumbo House got to this point. How on earth did we get here, to the extent that we are now a laughingstock amongst the comity of Houses in Bonny Kingdom? A blessed House like ours has built one Opuwari for over 20 years.

Days ago, the media space was awash with a letter you wrote to the Chairman of Jumbo Major House Elders Council, and people were wondering if that letter was necessary and what happened to internal dispute resolution mechanisms between the chieftaincy houses?

I believe in internal dispute resolution mechanisms and that is why I am not already in Court with the Elders Council of the Jumbo Major House. Besides, they are my brothers, so why should I run to the Court when I have not explored internal means of resolving this issue. I started by first engaging with well-meaning members of the Jumbo Major House Elders Council. Regardless of my being Chief, some of the Elders I consulted with are not just like fathers to me and as a matter of fact since my father’s death one of them is the father that I see now, and he was my father’s closest brother and confident. He and some others informed the Jumbo Elders Council when they were sharing these monies to remember that Dan-Jumbo House is a stakeholder in Jumbo House, and they ignored them. I was reliably informed that a cousin of mine who is also in the Elders Council and a maternal descendant of Late Chief Jene, also spoke up for the Dan-Jumbo House and no body took him seriously. Remember that you orchestrated a meeting between the Chairman of the Elders Council, Engr. Sodienye, sometime in July 2024. You were in the meeting at the GIBBS HOTEL, when he told me he was not aware Dan-Jumbo House was a stakeholder in the Jumbo House assets and we agreed that he should go and fact check. I did not stop with that meeting; I went on to place a call to him on 21st September 2024 and we spoke for a minimum of 40 minutes. It was in this meeting that I committed to providing both financial and morale support to the Elders Council. I made this commitment because I believe a very large percentage of the Elders Council are credible and decent people, who are committed to moving the Jumbo House forward. Little did I know that the man I was speaking with had a separate agenda; an agenda that takes the Jumbo House away from its traditional role of a unifier of Bonny Kingdom.

So, was it that you were not comfortable with the Joint Communique by the Brown and Jumbo Major Houses?

Well, that is partly the issue. Apart from the false claim that the Jumbo Major House is the sole owner of the land, the joint communique was a slap in the face of my great grandfather, late Chief Jene Dan-Jumbo and Chief Oko-Jumbo, as well as all others who committed their financial resources and fought in the Ibani na Madu war to keep Bonny Kingdom a united indivisible whole. The Jumbo House has always been a unifier of Bonny Kingdom, not a divider. The land, we, in Jumbo House, are now laying claim to is a proceed of war, because it was originally owned by Jaja, who attempted to divide the Kingdom at the time and having defeated Jaja in that war, his assets were confiscated as Jumbo assets. Our enjoyment of this land should constantly remind us as members of the Jumbo House that we are the unifiers of Bonny Kingdom and not dividers. Our role, therefore, should always be to engage with any of our Bonny brothers (Houses) who feel aggrieved for whatever reason and help them see the need to stay together as a united indivisible Bonny Kingdom. And also, to mediate and intervene on the root cause of the angst and see how it can be resolved. I still believe we can resolve this particular issue in a round table, instead of that Communique. Afterall, you are the one who just asked me about internal conciliatory mechanisms.

But how do you view the actions and incidents that led to the joint communique? In your view, were the two chieftaincy houses accorded due regard given their status as co-landlords to the Shell terminal in Bonny?

Like I said, whatever, the differences, we can still resolve it in a round table. Nobody is in dispute of the co-landlord’s status of the Jumbo and Brown Houses, and I will not sit in Council to support the ill-treatment of my own House or even the Brown House or any other House at that. I am a Se-Alabo and I took an oath to defend Bonny Kingdom, which means defend the interest of all Bonny Houses and people. I, therefore, will not support a caucused arrangement that denies any family or persons their right. I will speak out against such just like my grandfather did when he was Chief Dan-Jumbo. Interestingly, we have a King and a Chiefs Council who listen and are undertaking some interesting strides in the Kingdom, but for some reasons and because they are not blowing their trumpet, people do not seem to know how much they are doing for this Kingdom. I strongly believe this seemingly difficult issue around constitution of the Trust and including the names of Jumbo and Brown Houses is achievable without all the noise and the communique.

Chief Sir, unconfirmed reports have it that the Chairman of BKDC was quoted to have said that if the Jumbo House does not calm down in its incessant agitations about Shell land, the BOGT will be relocated. What is your take on this statement if it is true?

This question sounds anecdotal, and I do not pay attention to anecdotes. However, let us assume we are not dealing with anecdotes here and the statement was really made. Is the Chairman of BKDC the Bonny Chiefs Council? Is he the Amanyanabo? Why do we pay attention to such misguided and very careless statements? If indeed he made such a comment, it is shameful on his part and quite regrettable, because he should know better, especially, considering his status as a leader in Bonny Kingdom. And if that statement is true, and I hope it is just an anecdote, I consider it the ranting of an ill-informed man, meaning he is a misfit for the office he occupies.

If there is a way forward on this issue, what would you propose it should be?

The Jumbo Major House elders should 1) Retract their Communique and claim to sole ownership of the Jumbo House land 2) Apologise to the Amanyanabo in Council for the divisive role they have played, and 3) Re-present their demands to the Amanyanabo-in-Council.

What if after the elders do as you have said, the Trust remains as constituted and the membership is not increased to accommodate the Jumbo and Brown Houses in name and in membership?

My brother, I am a father, not just a royal father now, but father as in, I have my own biological children. No father likes to lose the trust of his children. If your children cannot trust you, outsiders will never trust you. Trust me when I tell you that we have a King who listens. But honestly, I don’t know why Bonny people don’t know the person God has blessed us with as a King. I am also aware that people told so many lies with his name in the past and that could be why most people don’t really know him. Now ask yourself, where are all those people who were going about those days saying Amanyanabo said, when he said nothing. Are you still seeing them around the palace? No! He has sent them all packing.

Over the years, the IOCs in Nigeria have leveraged internecine crisis within and between communities and in some cases even supported various warring factions in the crisis as way of denying them what is due them as provided for by law. In this case, where the HCDT for SPDC appears to be in the woods, don’t you think Shell would rather the various parties never come to an amicable settlement?

That may seem to be the case given the wealth this Kingdom has lost because of internal crises fuelled by people’s personal interests, placed above communal interest. By this I am referring to the Bonny Kingdom Development Foundation, where the multi-nationals were meant to pump in billions of Naira for the development of the Bonny Kingdom. This laudable programme was stalled because a few persons decided to go to Court. Can you imagine how a Kingdom lost close to what I hear would have now amounted to over N20 billion simply because a few persons went to Court? How can we recover such a loss? For me, one basic thing we get from being educated, is to know what to overlook. How much or what was the real disagreement that we couldn’t resolve that has cost this Kingdom this much? Did the individuals who went to Court not realise that there are 35 Chieftaincy Houses in Bonny? How come they brazenly assumed their singular interest was better and above that of the 33 or 34 remaining Chieftaincy Houses, that they decided to cost us all this much harm and loss? There must not be a repeat of such evil this time around.

In law we usually ask the question, Cui bono? (Latin for “To whom is it a benefit?” or simply put, “who benefits?”). So, I ask, who benefits when a company in this Kingdom was supposed to spend over N20 billion to develop the Kingdom but is hindered from doing so by internal strife? Who benefits if the HCDT is stalled by internal strife? We are indeed the sorry losers, and do you know what that makes us? Your guess is as good as mine. Other communities will be laughing at us and saying see the opportunity they are throwing away. Our forebears will be rolling and turning in anger in their graves over the sort of people we have become. And for clarity sake, I am not saying, the Brown and Jumbo Houses should not be given what is rightfully theirs, after all, I represent the interest of the Jumbo House in the Council  and believe me their demands will be met, but they must continue to dialogue with their fathers and not throw slaps and insults at the faces of their fathers at the slightest provocation. That Communique was indeed a slap in the face of the Bonny Chiefs Council and Bonny Kingdom at large.

Given your background in International Commercial and Maritime Law, do you think Bonny Kingdom, and this is comprising all its components, have been treated well by the IOCs operating in her land?

Thank you for this question, and NO! I do not believe we have been treated well at all by the IOCs operating on our land. Our youth leaders recently came out to expressly say we have not been treated well. I will now wear my commercial lawyer’s hat to answer this question. For me, I believe the foundation of our relationship with the IOCs was faulty ab initio. It was wrong for us to have given out land without including our equity participation into the projects. Just assume that in 1958 when we gave out land to SPDC we asked for half of what they paid to lease the land for 30 years and ploughed back the other half into the company shares. Now imagine that the said money procured 2% ownership of SPDC. Again, assume we did the same for NLNG and Mobil, etc. So don’t just get me going on this topic, I bleed at heart whenever, I think about it. As far as I am concerned, we are only getting handouts from the IOCs and that is not good enough. On a personal level, I have refused to register or do business with any of the IOCs operating in Bonny, so they don’t feel good and think they have done me any favours. That is not to say our brothers who are in business with them are wrong for doing so, after all “Man must wak.”

Besides, if our people don’t pursue those handouts, the outsiders, who the controlling minds of the IOCs prefer to give the mega jobs to, will still come for the handouts. On a second level, I blame our lack of community interest and the obvious absence of being our brother’s keeper and desire to assist one another. This brings me to the attitude of some of our sons and daughters who went to work in the IOCs and forgot how they got in there. Do you remember that I helped push some Bonny youths into NLNG when I was the BYF Secretary? Some of those people, seem to have completely forgotten about the Kingdom. Having said that, I am also very happy that some Bonny indigenes working with the IOCs still play active roles in the Kingdom, getting involved in one Kingdom activity or the other and even supporting other Bonny youths. That is what it should be.

And it is such people who make me look back and thank God, that I did what I did when NLNG, sent one of its Community Relations Officers to my house in the late 1990s and gave me only two hours to produce those Bonny graduates I claimed I had. An ultimatum that prompted me to drive down to Mobil where we had a pool of Bonny graduates at the time and we sat in Mr Bayo’s office and drafted a list, which to the surprise of everyone in the office I excluded my name and those of all BYF Exco members. When some persons asked why I removed my name and those of the BYF executives from the list, I informed them we cannot benefit when we are serving the Kingdom, we can only benefit after we have served the Kingdom. It was this list that produced the first set of Bonny graduates NLNG employed. Which is why I hope those who benefited from this gesture will see the need to support other Bonny youths.

Meanwhile, what’s your take on the challenge the BKDC is having securing land for the CSR projects for Train 7? Do you think the BKDC is engaging properly given that land in Bonny Kingdom exclusively belong to families?

As you already know, I am only few months old in the Chiefs Council, I do not know how much the BKDC has negotiated to secure land from the families, neither do I know the families they have approached, but as a Se-Alabo (Kingdom Chief), I believe the interest of the Kingdom should override all other interests, provided families are engaged with honestly and transparently. It is possible that persons can in the guise of Kingdom project acquire family lands for their personal use. We must therefore be very careful to prevent this from happening. Again, this is why the families must also learn to advocate for part ownership of any project to be set up on their land. For instance, if you come to Jumbo House to ask for land to build say a plaza. I, as a Jumbo House Chief, will insist on Jumbo House being part owners of the plaza. The reason for this is that although this project gives the impression of a robust social component, especially, being a CSR project, in reality, some persons or organisations will still make money from it eventually. As such, it is indeed a capital project. In such instance, BKDC should be bold enough to honestly negotiate with the families who own such lands, by telling them in clear terms, how much land they need and what it is for and I believe that if it is a capital project, it is only fair for the families to be part owners of the business and the land they donate becomes their equity participation. If BKDC do exactly what I have just said here, they will secure lands for whatever CSR projects the companies need to execute.

Again, in the current development clime, we talk more about stakeholder’s project and less of social projects. The reason for this is the fact that social projects are not sustainable and as a Jumbo House Chief I will advocate that our lands be used for CSR projects that are stakeholder-driven. Such projects will have Partnership components, Social components, Human Capital Development component and Market access. So, I will welcome you if you want to build a stadium or a motor park on the Jumbo House land provided you will allow Jumbo House to own certain percentage of the project. Remember, any land the Jumbo House gives out without building its interest is not coming back, right thinking people don’t throw away land, because of its appreciative potential. I believe this is the way forward.

Before we let you go, so far, about three MOUs have been signed relating to the development of Bonny Kingdom and these spanning more than 10 years, yet there have been no tangibles in terms of implementation of the Bonny Kingdom Development masterplan. What do you see as the snag impeding the actualization of the Amanyanabo’s clearly expressed vision of development for the Kingdom?

I believe I answered this question when I detailed how internal strife fuelled by personal gains has frustrated the vision of the Amanyanabo. We all need to throw away self and put the Kingdom first. Look! you will never see me go to any of the companies to ask for anything for myself, but my engagement with them will either be to get them to do right by the Kingdom, the Jumbo House at large and the Dan-Jumbo House in particular, or to address wrongs done to an indigene of Bonny Kingdom, nothing personal. That, I believe is the way forward, and you can see, that the Amanyanabo is already leading by example in this area.