 King Makers of Ifuk Kingdom have declared that Edidem Ikboabasu to the 5th remains the Obong of Kalabah and Grand Patriarch of Ifuk People as they distanced themselves from the purported proclamation, Anthony Annie as Obong of Kalabah Elect. The King Makers operating on the platform of the Tubom Traditional Council issued a press statement condemning the activities of those that have been busy attempting to subvert the will of Ifuk People who only recently re-elected and installed Edidem Ikboabasu as Obong of Kalabah pursuant to a recent judgment of the Supreme Court. The press statement signed and issued by the Chairman, Etubom's Traditional Council, His Royal Highness Etubom Basi Obi-Duke, described those behind the alleged proclamation of Annie as impersonators. Earlier, the former governor of Cross River State Donald Duke had written to the former governor, Ben Ayade, to urgently intervene in the festering crisis that had rocked the revered stool of the Obong of Kalabah to avoid a bloodbath. Joining us to discuss this is architect Chief Abassie Yondem, the fourth, the Etubom of Abassintier Royal House and a member of Etubom's Traditional Council Palace of the Obong of Kalabah. It's good to have you join us, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Great. For the average person who does not necessarily understand what's happening in Cross River State with the Obong of Kalabah, which is also a very revered stool in terms of the hierarchy of traditional rulers in this country, paint us a picture of why there's this controversy. All right, well, like you said, the stool or the throne of the Obong of Kalabah dates back at least 600 years of recorded history. What happened was in 2008, the then Obong of Kalabah, a little entire larger handshow, fell traditionally ill, which, in other words, means he went to join his ancestors. And of course, the saying is the king is dead, long live the king, meaning that they have to be continued. And if a people came together and decided to select another Obong. Now, they are about 24 royal families. And it's a rotational arrangement that they have among them. There is what you can call Zoom. It's divided into two. You have those who are in the Western Kalabah axis and those who are in the Central Kalabah axis. A deep and entire larger handshow was from Central. And so it was clear that the next Obong had to come from the Western. And so there is long procedures that were followed. The Western people were asked to select an Obong and present to the Central. Now, there were four people that indicated interest. Now, it was a two-boom, it was one representing one principality. Chief Antonio and me, another who represented, yet another, hello, who represented yet another principality. And you had a two-boom, who represented the third principality. There was one other. Anyway, there was a screening process. At the end of the screening process, I did I make a book on Obong too, was I judged the most qualified while the others, for one reason or the other, were disqualified. This report was now forwarded to the country, which is a special body that fits with the two-boom traditional council and is responsible for selecting and taking a final decision on who becomes Obong. Because there had been threats that some people would go to court, you know, over one or two reasons, what had taken place at the lower level, the country decided to put everyone that had indicated interest on the ballot. At the end of the two-boom, I took place. Here I'm a pokona, the two emerged 11 votes from the clinic. Well, Anthony and me and a signature each had one vote each. So a number of other procedures then took place. And it is a report on Abasio too, was now proclaimed the Obong of Calabar. Having gone through all the ritual, all it goes along with that ancient tradition. And then he was proclaimed and recognized by the government and everyone and he started, you know, carrying out his kidney duties. Now, Chief Anthony and he decided to go to court. And I think his main grouse was that he felt that the qualification of the favorable post I had received at the lower level may have biased the minds of the king may come who would only one voted for him, you know. So after four years, the judge at the high post decided that indeed he had been treated unfairly and a number of people who had to disqualify him. I mean, he had not been any to go before the process started. The fact that the to go ship was transferred and a number of other impediments traditional that were in his in his path had disqualified him. Well, the judge decided in his wisdom that these were not material and said the whole process should be repeated with him as an automatic candidate as well as any other. Well, the king because, as you can imagine, were distraught over this. But they are law abiding. They went back, went through the entire process from Western Calabar. There were only two people on the ballot because everyone else declined apart from Ediden Rippo, Conaba, and Tony, I mean, who was an automatic candidate as appointed by the court. This time it was fifteen zero. Ediden Rippo, Conaba, scored fifteen votes. Well, I mean, had zero. And he was re proclaimed as obon of Calabar. This is now for the second time. The first one through the traditional process. The second one as the court of that process. Can I ask a question quickly before before you go? Yes, go ahead. Many would many because of how traditional schools work, many would think that this particular process naturally falls on a different. I mean, just as you said, different houses and different conclaves or principalities. But this sounds more like an election of sorts or a selection process. Has this process somewhat become politicized? Because if he's saying that there had been some bias, then it means that this is not necessarily a monarchy as it works in other climes. OK, well, the effort thrown is not a hereditary monarchy. So, you know, it's not it doesn't pass from like the Japanese or even like the the English, yes, or the English do. So as moral, you know, let's call it a Republican or a constitutional monarchy where there are these royal houses and it repeats between them. And yeah, that's the way it is. So if I may just go on. Yes. Now, immediately after that, judgments which have been complied with and all parties notified and it was now back on the throne. The two once council felt that some of the orders in the judgment would be a problem in the future because they appeared to have obtained old and ancient traditions. So they took the matter to the court of appeal, even though they had complied and said, look, these particular portions here, we find obnoxious and we would like you to look at it and agitate again on the matter. After a year and a half, the appeal court came back with its own judgment, which said that Tonya Meade was not qualified and ought not to have participated in the process at all, according to the ancient traditions and the Constitution, which the people have prepared for themselves. That there were very expressed provisions in that Constitution that prohibited him. And therefore, the fact that he had participated and contaminated the process and they should go back and redo it, but in black and white exclude him because he was not qualified to have participated. So once again, if the people gathered, went through the process and again, it didn't work, but she too was the sole candidate. And everyone else declined. All those who may have been qualified declined. He was the sole candidate and he was re-proplained as obnoxious caravan for the third time on the basis of the court, according to the order of the court. Now, the people have a tradition that once an obon has sat on a catam and has been crowned with tenac, then he goes to join his ancestors. No other person can be obon. And we've had, you know, cases in the past, 1926, when an ex-pant obon fell out of favor with the government, the colonial government at the time. And the colonial government in Egypt, we tried their minds to accept it. Chief, I think we've lost you there for a second. Let's go back. You said there was a time where an obon fell out of favor with the colonial government and was it that they tried to remove him and what happened? We'd like to hear that part. They tried to remove him. And for people, he said it completely. And he remained on the throne until he passed after about 15 years. Yes. Interesting. So he was record. Yes. And what happened? You know, it's interesting because basically he wrapped foul of them because the women in the market came and complained to him that they had been even on fair taxes and he asked them not to pay. The colonial government approached him and asked him why he had given that. And he tried to explain that it was very unfair. And they were obstinate. They said they had to pay. So the obon now volunteered to pay on behalf of the market women and actually paid. So for having, you know, stood. In to challenge the government at the time and having shown that he was the power center, he was rich and so on. The colonial government said it was necessary to undermine such a power center. They couldn't have that kind of competition. OK, so that history is there. OK, let me quickly bring you back because we don't have too much time. Let's go into the politics of it because Governor, former Governor Donald Duke has asked former governor Yaddi before his tenure got to an end to intervene in the matter. Now, we saw pictures and videos of a sacred place when I say sacred, a sacred place to the ethnic people, to the ecber tradition being overtaken by police officers. And and again, one would wonder why that would happen. Is this something that has been put to bed with the fact that the abong has been made to go through this process three times through the order of the court? Or do we see more trouble coming from Chief Tony Annie in the future? Well, you know, two things, first of all, there is no sacred place. That was the sacred place. The place we have for the coronation is the Esse and Sabo. And that was nobody went there. Nobody can go in there. OK, so this took place in a I think it's Duke Town Families Council Council. And there's a lodge there. But, you know, I really think that thing was a far more of a skip because the process of making someone an abong is such a rigid and secret ceremony that takes a number of days. And each royal family has a particular rule that it plays during that process. You know, it's not just done the way someone sits on a plastic chair and somebody picks up the hat and places it on his head and claims it. You know, there's anyone can sit in his bedroom and proclaim himself president of America or president of Nigeria. You know, there's freedom of speech, but come out and try and do something that in case that you actually have that power. Then you may you may have to chat with the security agencies because you're trying to incite the public. OK, we saw during the inauguration of the governor, the governor, the governor of the presidential prince. Yes, back in 2002, that the abong was there with the entire council, the two rooms council and he was recognized and the ceremony went very, very well. OK, so the abong is there. Thank you. All right. Well, unfortunately, we do not have time, but then, of course, you have told us succinctly that there's nothing to worry about and the abong, obviously, is still the abong of Calabar. And of course, the courts have had the essay. I want to say thank you for joining us. Architect Bahse Yundem is a chief and he is an ITUBOM in council in council. Yes. Thank you so much for joining us. He's not the chief any longer. OK, thank you so much for coming on the show. We appreciate it. Pleasure. All right. Well, that's it on the show tonight. We want to thank you all for participating. Don't forget you can play catch up on all our previous episodes on plus politics. Just go to Plus TV Africa and of course, like, subscribe and follow all our programs. I'm Mary Annakul and have a good evening.