The people of Bille kingdom in Degema Local Government Area, Rivers State have sent a save our soul(SOS) missive to the Rivers State government over an alleged land annexation by newly installed Amayanabo of Elem Kalabari, Alhaji Asari Dokubo.
The people claim that Alhaji Dokubo had encroached their land which has risen tension between the two neighbouring riverine communities.
They further claimed that the boundaries within the Old settlement may have been encroached into land belonging to Bille kingdom.
Already the Bille kingdom through the Ijaw National Congress, INC has appealed to the Governor of Rivers State, Sir. Siminalayi Fubara, to call the amayanabo of Torusarama Piri, also known as Elem Kalabari, Alhaji Dokubo to order and stop his unlawful conduct of surveys aimed at establishing his territorial map with deliberate intention to annex Bille land into his new chiefdom.
The INC also called on the governor to urge Alhaji Asari Dokubo to stop patrolling Bille Kingdom territories with all kinds of militant groups subject to his authority, and stay within the circumference of his Torusarama Piri(Elem Kalabari).
Chairman of Ijaw National Congress(INC) Bille Clan, Mr. Andrew Bala Kio, stated that the amayanabo of Torusarama or Elem kalabari does not have any authority to patrol around Bille Kingdom territory or effect any survey pointing out that his activities constitutes a breach of peace and good neighbourliness if allowed to continue may hieghten tension already building up in the area.
Mr. Kio, represented by the Financial Secretary, Mr. Adokiye Levi-Akinda, explained that Bille Kingdom is the hub of Oil and Gas activities in the entire Degema Local Government Area, stressing that the current development was a deliberate attempt by the Kalabaris to have absolute control of their God given national resources through Asari Dokubo.
The chairman urged well-meaning Nigerians to condemn the act saying that the people of the kingdom who are law abiding will not indulge in any act that will shed innocent blood of the people in the kingdom.
Speaking further, some stakeholders including Mr. Ibanibo Kemuel, Mr. Horsfall Dokoipiri and Comrade Romeo I. Romeo said the kingdom will resist any attempt by the amayanabo of Elem Kalabari, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo to take hold of any Bille Territory calling on the government to immediately intervene to save the lives and property of Bille kingdom.
The stakeholders also called on the Chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council to call Alhaji Asari Dokubo to order adding that Traditional Institution is basically to maintain peace and order and not to cause crisis in the State.
In the same vein, the people of Dabira in Bille Kingdom, have rejected claims by the Elem-Ama Council that the Bille people’s claims of encroachment were “false alarms.”
According to them, the ongoing surveying activities in the Cawthorne Channel area, which have been identified as encroaching on Bille lands, are clear legal violations under customary and statutory law.
They cited legal principles governing the ownership and use of land, including the Nigerian Land Use Act (1978), the rights of indigenous communities to their ancestral land. “The Bille people have consistently demonstrated that the surveying and construction activities going on in Elem Ama, should not have any connection to Dabira and should be restricted to the Torusarama Piri by the people of Elem-Ama. Any act of encroachment, regardless of the manner in which it is carried out, must be addressed legally, and the claims of Bille regarding encroachment must be taken seriously” they stated.
The assertion that the Bille people are simply attempting to “mislead the public” is legally untenable. The INC Bille clan has not only provided oral history but also evidence of longstanding ownership, possession and use of the land in question. Furthermore, we call upon the relevant authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the claims of land encroachment with the interested parties represented.
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They dismissed Elem-Ama Council’s claim that Torusarama-Piri Island is solely under Kalabari jurisdiction as historically inaccurate, stressing that the land in question is Bille ancestral land originally called Lilakiri, due to migration and development purpose, the Kalabari people where received by the Bille of Kingdom which cannot be historically contested by any well meaning citizen among the residents of these communities, and this dispute is documented in various legal records and community engagement even by Kalabari prominent historians.
They further asserted that,”The legal principle of “continuous occupation” as enshrined in both common law and customary law supports the rights of the Bille community over their ancestral territories on the island.”
