Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The Amanyanabo of the Source, Da Amakiri Tubo, Alhaji Mujahid Abubakr Dokubo-Asari, has rejected allegations by the Udekama Council of Chiefs accusing Royal Fouche Security Services of operating as an “army of occupation” and engaging in land grabbing.
Dokubo-Asari described the allegations as “sad, vexatious and provocative,” insisting that he had been wrongly drawn into a longstanding land dispute between neighbouring communities that predates his involvement.
Speaking with journalists, the monarch said he was particularly saddened by the allegations after returning to Rivers State following an extended absence.
“I felt saddened when I heard these allegations. I came back home after a long time away from Rivers State, only to read these vexatious allegations against me,” he said.
According to him, the dispute had existed long before his birth, and he was not a party to the court cases from which the current allegations appeared to have arisen.
“I have never claimed ownership of the land in question,” he said.
Dokubo-Asari traced the latest controversy to developments in Obuama in 2020, when the community commenced the implementation of a five-year development plan involving the allocation of portions of community land for development.
He said some of the land was located along the major road linking Tema, Okpo, Obuama, Degema and Abonema, a corridor he said had historically been occupied by communities on both sides of the road.
According to him, the people from Usokun challenged the development and took the matter to court, but there was no injunction preventing Obuama from proceeding.
He said Obuama nevertheless suspended the development in the interest of peace and to allow the courts to resolve the dispute.
Dokubo-Asari also referred to the legal history of the dispute, citing a Rivers State High Court case DHC/76/CS/2020, involving HRH Chief Charles Sunday-Ugu VII and others against Chief Kalada Samuel Harry and another.
Asari said the judgment considered issues, including estoppel/res judicata and the claimants’ ability to establish title to the disputed land.
According to the judgment summary he cited, the court found the claimants caught by earlier litigation, including a 1938 Native Court judgment in favour of Obuama, which had not been set aside.
He, therefore, questioned why he was being portrayed as the principal actor in the dispute.
“This dispute did not start with me. If this dispute was already before the courts and I was not a party to it, how have I now become the person responsible for the dispute?” he asked.
On the allegation that Royal Fouche operates as an “army of occupation,” the monarch challenged his accusers to identify any land allegedly seized by the security company. “Occupation of what?” he asked.
He said Royal Fouche had provided security on land and waterways across communities in four local government areas for about four years, insisting that its security activities should not be confused with ownership or occupation.
Asari further claimed that the company’s operations had contributed to reducing kidnapping and armed robbery along the Emohua/Kalabari corridor and surrounding waterways.
Dokubo-Asari said Royal Fouche had operated without payment from the Rivers State Government or the four local government areas concerned, adding that transporters and residents could attest to improved security along the routes.
The monarch also disputed aspects of the historical claims surrounding the Udekama people, saying his own account was that his forebear, King Amakiri I, brought them from Engenni in present-day Ahoada East Local Government Area and settled them among the Kalabari people.
He, however, urged that historical claims be subjected to documentary and judicial scrutiny rather than allowed to fuel ethnic confrontation.
Dokubo-Asari called for the matter to be resolved through lawful processes, saying allegations of genocide, terrorism and occupation should not be made casually.
“I have nothing to fear from lawful investigation. If there is evidence of wrongdoing, let the evidence be produced and let the appropriate authorities investigate it,” he said.
He consequently welcomed a judicial panel of inquiry by the Rivers State Government to independently investigate the allegations of land grabbing.
“We must separate the land dispute from the security question, and allow evidence, the law, and the courts to determine the issues,” he said.