The Kalaowei-Ama community in Bayelsa State’s Southern Ijaw Local Government Area has rejected claims that their leader, Lloyd Sese, was forced upon them by Koluama clan king Solomon Ebifatei Edi.
According to The PUNCH, Community leaders, including Mientei Sam, Tari Zolo, Gbedi Ekubo, and Ebibofa Sapere, signed a statement calling the claims “spurious.”
They said one Diepreye Amadein, paramount ruler of Tamazo community, had accused Edi of unilaterally inaugurating traditional rulers in the clan.
In defense of Sese, the people said he had been deputy paramount ruler of Kalaowei-Ama community for over 30 years and was elevated after the death of the late paramount ruler, Vincent Sapere in 2021.
They accused Amadein of bringing the traditional stool into disrepute by saying Sese hailed from Foropa community and not Kalaowei-Ama community, querying, “If Chief Loyd is not from Koluama clan, how come he served as Deputy Paramount Ruler of Kalawei-ama community for over 30 years?”
They affirmed that Edi was not instrumental to the emergence of Sese as deputy paramount ruler and acting paramount ruler of the Kalaowei-Ama community.
The community leaders therefore urged members of the public to disregard the unfounded story, suggesting that Sese was a native of Forupa, stressing that he remained the only recognized acting paramount ruler of Kalawei-Ama community.
In the same vein, paramount rulers, councils of chiefs, and the people of Koluama clan said there was a law that prescribed how traditional rulers emerged and the law had not been breached in the emergence of the paramount rulers.
