A socio-cultural group, the Finima Opu-Ogbo, has called on the Bonny Chiefs’ Council (BCC) to assert its position and authority as an impartial arbiter and father to all, amid the continuing controversy over the proposed activities of what it described as “a faction of the Tobin Chieftaincy House in Finima”.
The call was contained in a response by the Finima Opu-Ogbo signed by its Public Relations Officer, Warisenibo Tumini Hart, to a recent statement by the Bonny Chiefs Council, which was published by Kristina Reports, wherein the BCC condemned alleged threats to disrupt the Tobin House’s planned Eremini and Fungu Mini festivals and masquerade display.
The group said the dispute had been wrongly framed as a Brown House versus Tobin House conflict, insisting that the central issue was the alleged establishment of a parallel Owu-Ogbo institution within Finima, alongside the existing Finima Opu-Ogbo.
It maintained that while every recognised Chieftaincy House has the right to preserve its genuine cultural traditions, such rights should not automatically extend to creating a parallel community-wide institution without demonstrated historical or customary foundation.
The group also raised concern over reports of possible mobilisation of outsiders in connection with the proposed activities, urging security agencies to investigate the allegations impartially and prevent any attempt to import violence into Finima.
However, it stressed that the matter should not degenerate into confrontation, warning that no cultural disagreement is worth a human life.
Central to the response was an appeal to the Bonny Chiefs’ Council to exercise its traditional authority as an impartial institution and father to all factions.
The Finima Opu-Ogbo argued that the Council should not be perceived as taking sides in a dispute which historical and customary questions remain contested.
Rather, it urged the Council to de-escalate tensions, hear all parties, facilitate dialogue and seek answers to the historical questions surrounding the disputed institution, while making it clear that no faction should interpret its intervention as authorisation to confront another physically.
The group specifically urged the Council to publicly reinforce a position of no violence, no weapons and no violent enforcement of cultural claims, stressing that traditional leadership must provide direction and restraint at a time of heightened tension.
It also called on the Council to convene an impartial process involving recognised custodians of Finima’s traditional institutions, rather than prematurely endorsing any single narrative.
The Finima Opu-Ogbo further appealed to the police and other security agencies to remain operationally neutral, protect all sides and investigate every allegation on the basis of evidence.
It urged Tobin House elders and Finima youths to exercise restraint, noting that dialogue, historical inquiry and the judicial process remain available avenues for resolving the dispute.
The institution said the wider matter is already before the court under Suit No. BYHC/19/CS/2025, and maintained that unilateral physical implementation of disputed traditional claims could be provocative.
It concluded with a warning and appeal directed at all sides: “History does not need intimidation. Truth does not need thugs. Culture does not need bloodshed.”
