DIPLOMAN TIMES

Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has formally presented the Certificate of Recognition and Staff of Office to the new Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom, King Charles Douglas Mac-Pepple Jaja Jeki VI, urging him to promote peace, unity and inclusiveness.

Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has formally presented the Certificate of Recognition and Staff of Office to the new Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom, His Majesty King Charles Douglas Mac-Pepple Jaja, Jeki VI, urging the monarch to promote peace, unity and inclusiveness in the kingdom.

Fubara congratulated the monarch on completing the selection and coronation process and urged him to carry along those who contested the traditional stool but did not emerge successful. The governor said those who lost the selection process should be regarded as comrades whose participation remains important to the progress of the kingdom. He also explained his absence from the coronation, attributing it to what he described as a call to higher national service.

The governor said his administration had been involved in the transition from the late King Douglas Dandeson Jaja to the new monarch and described the peaceful completion of the process as significant because the previous stool had been involved in litigation for more than 27 years. According to the governor, his administration deliberately managed the process to avoid another round of court cases and was responsible for the logistics associated with the burial, coronation and recognition process. He rejected claims that his absence from the coronation was politically motivated.

Fubara said the new reign should translate into practical development and identified education, healthcare and small businesses as areas that could provide sustainable alternatives to criminality among young people. He also urged the new monarch to maintain zero tolerance for criminality and to protect the kingdom without allowing family or kinship considerations to compromise security. The governor further charged the Alapu Council, titled citizens and other traditional stakeholders to support initiatives that would produce tangible development projects within the kingdom.

In his acceptance speech, King Jaja Jeki VI pledged to build Opobo around service, inclusion and vision, while describing the Staff of Office as a trust from the government and people of Rivers State. He expressed appreciation to the governor, traditional stakeholders, elders, women and youths and pledged that Opobo Kingdom would remain a partner for peace, development and unity in Rivers State. The presentation formally marked the state's recognition of the new monarch.