We the members of the Calabar Development Association [USA] note with dismay the current fall out over the stool of the Obong of Calabar. We will like to put on record that our association made up of the Efiks, Quas, Efuts, numerous in-laws and settlers of Calabar, condemn in its entirety, the actions and utterances of Prof. Nta Henshaw, Gov. Donald Duke, Etuboms Ewa Effiom and Bassey Ekpo Bassey.

For the record, we will like to inform all friends of Calabar who might not be aware of Efik political history that the position/title of the ‘Obong of Calabar’ gained political prominence on the coming of the Europeans as it conferred considerable political and economic influence on the holder, before this, other titles like the ‘Oku Ndem’ and the ‘Eyamba’ were of equal and even greater status.

The Efik political authority as it concerns the Obong is hinged on a political tripod - Creek Town made up of Ambo, Cobham and Eyo; Old Town made up of Obutong; and, Duke Town or Atakpa made up of Duke/Archibong, Eyamba, Ntiero, Henshaw and Cobham. Each leg of this tripod at one time or the other was ruled by a separate Obong.

Within the last 100 years, a gentleman’s agreement to merge these three zones into one, with a single titular head as the Obong, and the distribution or opening up of the title to all Efik wards, was arrived at. It is the attempt to do away or dishonor this ‘contract of understanding’ that is at the root of the Obong of Calabar crises.

Each of the aspirants to the throne is eminently qualified, none no more so, than the other. The title of the Obong of Calabar had been held by Nsa Effiom and Ekpo Nsa in the 17^th century, these two gentlemen were from the Henshaw ward. Attempts by the Henshaw to have an Obong resulted in a war in 1870. The Henshaws did not attain this title again until the last 50 years when David Henshaw became Obong. Cobham Town where Bassey Ekpo Bassey hails from had their first and only Obong recently. All these were made possible because of ‘the contract’.

Nta Henshaw is eminently qualified to be Obong, but we frown at statements that ‘he was duly selected by more Etuboms than any of his predecessors in recent history’. Please, come out and tell us, if Nta Henshaw was selected by the majority of Etuboms in the council.

Ewa Effiom’s [who is from Henshaw ward] assertion that ‘the government did not have a hand in the emergence of the Obong of Calabar’ should be taken with a pinch of salt, because since the arrival of Mr. MacDonald to Calabar as the Commissioner and Consul General on August 1^st 1891 things have never been the same again.

The late Obong of Calabar who came from Cobham Town is Nta Henshaw’s cousin. Anyway, since when did ‘presiding over the funeral obsequies of a departed Obong’ confer the right to the throne of the Efiks?

Efe Asabo the Efik ancestral shrine is located at Cobham Town and the people of this ward have always been her custodian, that is where, the wisdom of our forefathers not to let indigenes of this ward become the Obong came from. This wisdom we sacrificed on the altar of ‘the contract’. Exploiting the location of this shrine to rush through a coronation does not help matters. Within the past 100 years how many Obongs have we not crowned at this site?

From the foregoing, the Duke/Archibong/ Eyamba wards have had a virtual monopoly on the throne, followed recently by ascension of the Henshaw, Creek Town and Cobham wards, all thanks to the ‘contract of understanding’. Certain thinking, in Calabar, believes that, the people of Old Town or Obutong should now have their turn.

We accept, it is not written or ordained that the throne should go to the Old Town ward. Our history is replete with stories of individuals stepping down for others in the interest of the common good, but, like in all political machinations there must be a ‘quid pro quo’. Has Nta Henshaw forgotten how he became an Etubom?. Is Bassey Ekpo Bassey heading the same ward that his father led? If Nta Henshaw is that desperate to be Obong, let him bring to us the remains of Ephraim Robin John, for a proper and befitting burial. It is said that time, heals all wounds, but the battle of Old Town in 1767, still leaves a sour taste on our collective palate.

Donald Duke, How dare you, cause your father to be arrested, interrogated and detained? Have you ever seen a leopard take snuff? Young man, there is power, and, there is power. The difference between the two, is how each is deployed?

The people of Calabar will hold the aforementioned political actors responsible for any breakdown of law and order in this ancient and peace loving city.

Owo isi tieghe ke orung ekom ita ekom.

May 2000