About

His Royal Highness Christian Otobotekere was born on the 21st of April 1925 in the small but growing town of Tombia, located 50⁰ North of the Equator by latitude 60⁰ East of the Prime Meridian, at the bank of the river Nun. His father, Okpofagha, was the son of Chief Otobotekere, the ruling chieftain of the Birifabiri Quarter of Tombia. He died in 1939. Okpofaa’s mother, Gbeinkoromo, was the daughter of Ekpebu of Sabagreia town in the Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. He was named Christian in commemoration of the conversion of his forebears to Christianity only a few years before his birth. Consequently, he was taught the norms and ethos of the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality and brought up with Christian values.

Formal education for His Royal Highness Christian Otobotekere began at the Junior Infant School, Tombia, from about 1933 to 1935. Thereafter, he was enrolled into the famous Reverend Proctor Memorial Primary School, Kaiama, in the then Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1936. There, he passed his Standard Six Certificate Examination in 1940 and, after a two-year lull, was admitted to the prestigious Okrika Grammar School (OGS), Rivers State, in the then Eastern Region of Nigeria. He passed out of the institution in 1945 with a Grade 1 in the Cambridge School Certificate

Subsequently, he worked for the British Colonial Government from 1946 to 1954 as a Court Interpreter, Stenographer, and Administrator in the coastal towns of Brass in Nigeria and Buea in the Cameroons. It was from Buea that in late 1954, Christian proceeded to Fourah Bay University College, Sierra Leone, where he studied and graduated, in 1957, with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics awarded by Durham University, England.

On his return, he taught briefly at Baptist Boys High School, Port Harcourt, before joining the Shell British Petroleum Company, where he worked for nineteen years from 1958 to the dawn of 1978. In SHELL, he rose to become Treasurer and later, Assistant Controller of Finance, Eastern Division of Shell BP, at a time of expatriate dominance at the higher rungs of the company’s personnel cadre.

By birth, Christian Okpofaa Otobotekere was a natural descendant of two chieftains on his paternal and maternal sides – Chief Otobotekere and Chief Akoko of Birifabiri and Ingbelebiri, respectively. The blood of royalty in his veins blossomed and became manifest when in 1972 he was nominated, on his merit and right, as one of the candidates for the chieftaincy stool of Tombia in the Ekpetiama Clan of the then Rivers State. This nomination came not only because of his educational pedigree but was accentuated by his character and the love he had exuded in matters concerning community development from childhood.

In 1973, he was elected the Amananaowei (King) of the town and was subsequently crowned in 1975. On ascending the throne, his dual pedigree was clearly effective in his ability to rule Tombia as one united entity, as he increasingly gained the wide acceptance of all his people regardless of their quarter or compound of origin.

After his retirement from Shell BP, he founded the firm of Christian Tawi and Sons and went into business with an Italian firm. He also had a brief stint in Politics, where he pitched his tent with the Great Nigeria Peoples Party of Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, who propagated Politics Without Bitterness. Interestingly, his wife, Beauty Timikoru Otobotekere, of blessed memory, was the Secretary of the Women’s wing of another Political Party, National Party of Nigeria. In addition to his community functions, he was appointed Chairman of the Rivers State Schools Management Committee (as it then was). Several years later, in 1984, he was appointed a Lay Magistrate for the Yenagoa Division of the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation and Revenue Tribunal.

Many who have studied the personality of Christian Otobotekere would agree that his character could be defined by four traits, namely: integrity, determination, humility, and hospitality. These evident virtues have indeed reflected his disposition from his earliest days to the ninety-eight years of his sojourn on earth. Thus, he has been on the throne of Tombia and has led his people successfully to the glory of the Almighty God for forty-eight years.

The achievements of King Otobotekere in providing effective leadership towards the development of his community of Tombia, the Ekpetiama clan, and by extension, the Yenagoa Local Government Area and Bayelsa State are enormous. During his reign, he contributed tremendously to the development of Tombia town and, by extension, the Ekpetiama Clan, which comprises six other communities of which he was the Acting Clan Head for over ten years until May 2016, when a substantive clan head was enthroned. Specifically, he was very successful in the areas of integration, infrastructural development, peacebuilding, cohesion, and human capital advancement, all of which yielded general progress and prosperity through the years.

One of HRH Christian Otobotekere’s early achievements was the abolition of the caste system, which classified some persons as slaves (omoni in local parlance) by reason of their origin and sociological status. In conjunction with his Council-of-Chiefs and Elders, he declared that all the indigenes of Tombia were socially equal, and no family should, therefore, be termed enslaved people. That proclamation was perpetual and resulted in the full integration of every indigene into the Tombia Community without discrimination. That was an evident achievement of a visionary leader.

Long before a road was contemplated by the government to link Tombia to other parts of the area that has become Bayelsa State, HRH Otobotekere made significant efforts to connect Tombia by road to the outer world. He influenced Shell BP to embark on the preliminary step of clearing a motorable strip through the forest in a bid to develop a road from Tombia via Gbarantoru to Obunagha in the Gbarain Kingdom, all in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of the then Rivers State. He also supported the efforts of the Government of Chief Melford Okilo to construct a road from Kaiama via Agudama near Tombia to Amassoma. Furthermore, he ensured the provision of an expanse of land in Tombia as an operating base for Julius Berger Nigeria Ltd., the firm to which the construction of the road was contracted.

Consequently, all the structures left behind by Julius Berger at the Tombia base (when the road project stalled after the fall of the Second Republic) later served as the temporary buildings for the take-off of the Bayelsa State School of Nursing and Midwifery when it commenced in October 1998. A few years later, when the Etegwe – Tombia Road was deconstructed and left unattended for several years by a past administration in the early 2000s, King Otobotekere was a strong advocate for the reconstruction of the road, which was eventually done by Senator Henry Seriake Dickson’s Administration in Bayelsa State in 2012.

Still, on infrastructure, King Otobotekere was instrumental in the building of concrete walkways within Tombia town that replaced the muddy roads that had been in existence from its origin. Other infrastructures that were provided by his initiative or support over the years of his reign include, a Slipway Jetty, a Sanitation Centre, State-of-the-Art Toilet Facility, a Community Borehole Project, the Globalcom and MTN Telecommunication facilities, etc.

His leadership philosophy, which is captured in his poem entitled “Live Two Lives,” reflects the way he has inspired peaceful coexistence within his Tombia community as a growing cosmopolitan town. Gifted with a friendly, quiet but cheerful disposition, King Otobotekere was pivotal to building a peaceful society in Tombia and the entire Ekpetiama Clan. From the early years of his reign to the era in the mid-2000s when he became the Acting Clan Head, he advocated the peaceful existence of his people amongst themselves and with their neighbours, between indigenes and non-indigenes, and between the community and multi-national companies and other organisations operating there. Remarkably, in 1979, he forestalled an imminent bloodbath between Tombia and her closest neighbour across the creek over fishing grounds and rights. On several occasions, he had adjudicated over severe cases that threatened the community’s peace. The fact that the militancy of the early 1990s did not affect Tombia could be attributed to the democratic servant-leadership style of His Royal Highness Otobotekere.

King Otobotekere contributed immensely to the improvement of the lives of his people by attracting several wealth-generation and empowerment programmes to the Tombia community. He, through the years, supported the setting up of Community-Based Development Clusters to provide employment opportunities, skills training and general Community Development Initiatives funded by the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Company as part of its corporate social responsibility to host communities. In addition, several cooperative societies were set up under the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) as sources of livelihood for the people through organized agricultural productivity.

Through the years of his existence and reign, King Otobotekere cared for the intellectual and overall cognitive development of his people. Since charity begins at home, His Royal Highness’ love for education was demonstrated in the education of his fourteen (14) female children in an era when the education of the girl-child was not deemed necessary by many fathers.

His Royal Highness remained committed to the progress of the public primary and secondary schools in Tombia. He was pivotal in the establishment of the Ekpetiama Comprehensive High School, Tombia, and the Bayelsa State School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tombia. When the Niger Delta University (NDU), to which his community serves as a gateway town, was established in 2000, he declared that a great deliverance had arrived in the Niger Delta. He poetically interpreted NDU to mean “Now Deliver Us.”

His high regard for education was reflected in the determined progressive investment of his retirement benefits in establishing a private nursery school, then a primary school, and finally, a secondary school within the precincts of his residence. This ameliorated the educational deficit within the community, especially with the exponential increase in its population in the last twenty years.

His Royal Highness was himself a beneficiary of his love for educational advancement. It was after his retirement that the Fourah Bay-trained Economist began a career in Writing. His Royal Highness published fourteen (14) Books. He has to his credit several essays, short stories, and poems on diverse philosophies. A presentation of the last of two beautiful books from his stable was made on his 97^th Birthday anniversary. It is impressive that this nonagenarian never had any formal literary background except for his zeal, love, and doggedness in making a societal impact and imprint. With his latest books, he had done lots of tours and research.

The Monarch was generally known for his trademark humour that stands out in his fictional narratives. His poetry, however, is more serious and deeper, demanding some serious thoughts and analysis. Little wonder he must explain several parts when he reads, and he sure did a lot of reading.

Our Patriarch had a commanding presence and a unique look, especially with that special smile of his that you would not find on anyone else. His booming voice and commanding presence were as captivating as they were inspiring. Several people changed their reading styles for the better after exposure to presentations and books by this giant of an author. His Royal Highness had a zest for literature and would easily be caught in literary underwear than any other garment. It gained him several fans and lots of well-wishers. A testimony is seen in the number of persons that turned up at his 97^th Birthday anniversary celebration in August 2022 and the Commendation Service to honour him and show their respect.