Bonny Youths Protested Because Evomec Slighted Our King – LG Chairman’s Aide
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| Idamina Tobin |
Calm,
collected, coolheaded but vociferous in articulating his thoughts on issues,
Idamina Tobin, a former youth leader of Tobin House of Bonny Kingdom and
currently, the Special Adviser to Bonny Local Government Chairman on Security,
spoke to Kristina Reports Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Godswill Jumbo, on the
controversy trailing the recent protest he led to Evomec General Services
Limited (EGSL). Excerpts:
We
understand that some days ago you led some youths to Evomec gate to protest and
in the course of that protest there was an outbreak of violence. What actually
happened?
Yes, on the 14th of this month precisely, I
and Emmanuel Hart and other concerned youths of Bonny went to block Evomec
because the company has refused to abide by His Majesty’s directive and before
now several missives were written to the same company and security operatives
but to no avail. I observed that somebody was somewhere beating their drum,
giving them all forms of confidence that nothing will happen and that the
person was man enough to handle it, and all that. So, we wrote to Chiefs’
Council with regards to Evomec’s refusal to engage the people our dear King
sent. We copied the DSS; they invited us to a meeting asking us the reason of
this letter. I told the man, Mr. Pinas Agbai and his boys; they advised us to
do a final letter to Evomec and should they fail to heed then our actions will
be justified. Of course, as a law abiding citizen of this country, I wrote
again to Evomec and even stating the possible consequences but to my surprise
that missive fell on deaf ears. So, at that juncture I need to speak the language
that Evomec will understand by going to besiege their office. That is what I
did.
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Concerned youths of Bonny, male and female,
we went there and as usual we blocked the gate with Omu (palm frond). The DPO came that morning and he met me and asked
us the reason for the action, I told him and he enjoined us to be peaceful
because, and of course, there are other companies too within that precinct. So,
if it goes out of hand it will affect others’ operations. I told him that, as
you can see, we are here for Evomec; the boys and girls, the men and the women,
we stayed at the gate beating drums, singing, as usual. He said okay. DPO left.
DSS came, asking me why I am doing what I am doing and I told him the same
thing I told the DPO. He laughed; his body language said something different.
He laughed and he walked out. He was making some calls. After which Charles
(Brown) called me and I told him I am at the site. Come and meet me. He came
with few of his excos. As we were talking three busses drove in with full
speed, well loaded with youths, Brown House youths, not Finima. It is high time
we correct this impression. Finima is made up of Tobin, Attoni, and Brown. Yes,
for sure, Brown is a major house, same thing as Jumbo. They came in their
numbers, they came with bottles, knives, roads, sticks. As soon as they got to
the scene, they jumped down and they attacked defenceless boys and girls, men
and women at the gate. And of course, most of the men and women, they took to
their heels. Of course, would you stand? No. they attacked them, injured most
of them. And the DSS was right there when these things were happening. We
didn’t go there to fight. We have the right, legal right to protest against any
company that fails to meet our demands.
So,
you are saying your group was not made of cultists and there was no act of
violence by the Concerned Youths of Bonny that went for that protest?
Of course, it is very clear. If the DSS will
be sincere enough, ask him, Mr. Pinas Agbai. Ask the DPO. Okay, confirm from the
traffic team of NLNG. They were there too. If I want to go to war why will I
mobilize females? I don’t do that. I don’t even go to war.
Kristina
Reports was able to talk with Chief Abel Attoni. And he said you guys did not
clear with the palace before going on the protest and that about two weeks
before the protest that the two lists that emanated from the palace have been
harmonized with Evomec and Evomec has accepted to employ everyone that was recommended
on both lists. Is this correct?
That is not correct with all due respect to
my Chief. I think at this juncture, I need to show you some documents for you
to sight. We wrote to Chiefs’ council, we wrote to the security agencies, even
the DSS advised for us to do a final letter to Evomec, which we did. If what
you are saying have been put in place they would have just responded. But they
didn’t. And it was after this whole thing got to this point that was when those
people sent by His Majesty were engaged. They went for medicals just yesterday
(Saturday, December 22, 2018) and they paid them October and other months’
salaries.
So,
you think that it was because of the protest that these are happening…
Definitely.
But
Evomec Managing Director said otherwise. He said that weeks before that protest
both lists were harmonized and he resolved to engage all of them both the
people they engaged before and those on the second letter.
Of course, once the issue gets out of hand
people will do their possible best to build up defence. I want to stick to my
question: if the list had been harmonized, when our letter came why didn’t they
respond to us that this thing has been resolved? We copied Chiefs Council. We
copied the security operatives, DPO and DSS. So, if they have harmonized the
list why did they not respond that there is no cause for you to protest we have
resolved the issue?
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Which
would have been the easy path to take…
Yes, of course. Why didn’t they follow that
path? It is because the Kingdom has risen that is why. If you want I will send
you an audio clip in which the MD of Evomec, Peter Esievo was blaming the
(employment) bureau chairman for not clearing the list. With all due respect,
the list from His Majesty does not go to the (employment) bureau. It is a norm
that we all know. We are sons of this land. We know it. Now, they are scouting
for whom to shift the blame to. Evomec, I repeat, Evomec caused this problem.
Since
the name of your body is Concerned Bonny Youths, it was expected that there
would have been that synergy between the youth bodies of the various houses,
especially the apex body, the Bonny Youths Federation. Were you able to reach
that understanding before embarking on the protest?
I want to make something clear. BYF, Bonny
Youths Federation remains the apex body of youths in Bonny Kingdom. Finima is
Bonny, Otobie is Bonny, Abalamabie is Bonny; any and every village in Bonny is
Bonny. And BYF consists of every house that makes up Bonny Kingdom. BYF was
duly informed.
You
have evidence to that effect?
Jesus Christ! I will give you. Of course,
you don’t expect me to write to Brown House, Tobin House, Hart House, Jumbo House,
Ezekiel-Hart, no. we wrote to BYF. They were duly informed. They were well
informed about this whole thing.
Was
there any response from them?
For me, I don’t want to blame BYF because at
the palace, Chief Hanniel (Jack Wilson Pepple) blamed BYF. When this whole
thing got to that point, Chief Hanniel blamed BYF because after His Majesty,
among those copied, the next was BYF before DSS and DPO. So, I have heard
it…people saying why would we go there on our own without informing Tobin or
any other house. No. the apex youth body is in the know.
When
Kristina Reports spoke to the Chairman of Finima Youth Congress, Charles Brown,
he said he called you.
That is correct.
He
said when he asked what was the matter, that you said that youths of Tobin
House were not being employed by Evomec and that was the reason why you went
for the protest.
That wasn’t true. That wasn’t true.
He
said the protest according to his discussion with you had nothing to do with
Amanyanabo’s list. That it was because Tobin youths were not being carried
along.
That was not true. If I wanted to besiege
Evomec premises because of Tobin youths why would I involve Bonny youths? Why
would I write to BYF and Chiefs Council? That wasn’t true. I told him that His
Majesty sent a list to this company for over a month and the persons that were
sent there have written back to Chiefs’ Council over the refusal of Evomec to
engage them, of which His Majesty had to summon the MD of Evomec on the 22nd
of November. They met, they discussed and he promised that they would be
engaged speedily. As soon as he left the palace, the same thing happened. All
efforts by these people to reach him proved abortive. So, at that point, it was
clear to us that Evomec is playing hide and seek. And somebody in Finima (for
now names withheld) was giving them all assurances that nothing will happen.
Evomec is the root cause of all of these.
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So,
from all you are saying you are convinced that Evomec deliberately slighted the
Amanyanabo of Bonny?
Yes. And that is my pain. If the Olu of
Warri sneezes, people catch cold. Yes, Bonny we have been known for our
peaceful nature and all that. But that doesn’t mean that anybody will come and
mess with our monarch. It is not done anywhere.
Chief
Abel Attoni said he was told that you guys said that it was the King that sent
you.
King never sent us.
And
you never told anybody that the King sent you?
No. Why? We, as concerned
youths, having seen what was going on, it is an insult to His Majesty. It is a
mockery of the stool. And as well-meaning youths of this kingdom, of course, we
have a part to play in such a case because you don’t expect the King to come
and do what we did. It is youths that will do it.
But looking at it, if you are going to act on behalf of the
King, shouldn’t you have made effort to clear with him that this was what you
want to do on his behalf?
Of course, all our missives
went to Chiefs’ Council…we also copied the King all our missives.
But Chief Abel Attoni said he didn’t see any letter from
Concerned Youths of Bonny in his office.
Okay. So, let me furnish you
with the documents. This is the one we wrote to the Chiefs Council informing
them of the pending community action against Evomec over their refusal to
engage the people sent by His Majesty. And His Majesty was duly copied.
Meaning that a copy of this letter went to His Majesty?
Yes, Sir. So, if Chief Abel,
of course, we are cultured; when an elder speaks, whether right or wrong you
can’t just dispute it in public. We are cultured people. But Chief Abel is not
being fair that we did not inform the Chiefs Council and the palace itself. As
you can see the King was duly informed, Chiefs’ Council was duly informed. DSS,
DPO, BYF, they were all duly informed before we went to the company. We didn’t
just go there on our own
In the aftermath of that incident, we saw some people
gloating over it, saying that youths of Bonny came into Finima soil. Don’t you
think this has heightened that perception of Bonny/Finima dichotomy?
That is the more reason why
we need to kill such perception with immediate effect. I am a Finima man, for
God’s sake, from Tobin House. Finima is a village in Bonny. For instance,
Idamina Tobin, where are you from? I am from Bonny. What part of Bonny? Finima.
Which family? Tobin. That is it. Finima is a village under Bonny. We, the
upcoming youth, should work round the clock to kill this dichotomy. There is
nothing like Bonny and Finima. We are all Bonny.
But the posts and comments were coming from Finima people…and
some of them highly placed people. Does that give you cause for concern?
It doesn’t. They are being
deceived because they want to secede. Before now, I tell you if not for Chief
(Awanta) Tobin; in fact a different thing would have happened. A different
thing would have played out in Finima because I know there are some people that
are desirous of pulling Finima out of Bonny. It is not possible. And till our times passes it won’t be done. It won’t see the daylight.
Given what has happened with Evomec, what advice do you have
for companies operating in Bonny Kingdom?
Any company that steps into
Bonny to do business, if they fail to do what His Majesty in council asks them
to do, what Evomec is passing through will befall them. It is as simple as
that. Enough is enough. For your information, one of the former governors of
Edo State suspended the Oba of Benin and his wife had a miscarriage. As soon as
his tenure finished he died. We must respect traditional institutions, for
God’s sake. Yes, today, people may paint whatever they want to paint but I am
not an anti-Christ. The actual thing ought to be done.
Looking at the funny attitudes of some of these corporate
bodies operating in Bonny Kingdom and the way the King has managed them; do you
think the King has overreached himself, maybe bended backwards to be
accommodating and tolerant of these companies?
Yes. A lot has happened over
time for which our dear King overlooked for the sake of peace and mutual
co-existence. But if we don’t stop those actions it will continue forever.
Now, looking at all that has happened: the youths who went to
protest, the youths who went to fight, all under the nomenclature of youths,
what advice do you have for the youths of Bonny Kingdom?
When BYF came to the scene, first and foremost,
I expressed displeasure over BYF. I told them that the motto of BYF is “Asawo nyena kuro” . It means the
strength of the youths. And, of course, if you want to take a demographic
analysis of Bonny, youths outnumber the elderly, anywhere in the world. Youths
are more or less the propelling force of any society. If the structure of the
youths collapses that society is gone. BYF should live up to expectation.
Are you
saying that the BYF did not do enough to protect the interest of His Majesty?
Yes.
If any
company were to act like Evomec what do you advise BYF to do?
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