Abstract
Oil-rich Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom, founded before or about 1,000AD, was the economic and political centre of the Ancient Niger Delta region and a significant symbol of African civilisation, before the creation of Opobo Kingdom out of it (in 1870) and the eventual evolution of modern Nigeria (in 1914). The people and houses of this oil-rich Kingdom of the Nigerian Delta region invest more in traditional rulership, based on house system of governance. The people rely more on their traditional rulers to foster their livelihoods and cater for their wellbeing and the overall good and prosperity of the Kingdom. Hence, there is a need for good traditional governance (GTG), more so, when the foundations of GTG and its characteristic features, based on natural law and natural rights, were firmly established during the era of the Kingdom’s Premier Monarchs (Ndoli-Okpara, Opuamakuba, Alagbariya and Asimini), up to the reign of King Halliday-Awusa. Therefore, the aim of this socio-legal and divinely-based study is to sensitise and spur successive apex traditional rulers of the Kingdom, namely the Monarchs (Amanyanapu) and Country Chiefs (Se-Alapu) to promote and practise GTG, based on the ethical relationship between governance, government and service to the people, centred on truth, fair-play, public-spiritedness, responsible stewardship, integrity, hearkening to the voice or voices of reason and abiding by due process. The interrelated, intertwined and harmonious relationship of the past, through the present, to the future, embedded in the subject-matter and discipline of history, is thus important in the context of this study, as same promote the need for GTG, based on traditional government social responsibility (TGSR), premised on the relationship of natural law with good governance (GG) established and nourished by Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom’s above-stated four Premier Monarchs, and thereafter sustained up to the era of King Halliday-Awusa, in the form of selfless leadership. Such a form and standard of traditional rulership would promote sustainable community development (SCD) in Bonny Kingdom. Finally, from the base and bedrock of divine natural law, the study recommends that an incumbent of the throne of kingship in Bonny should painstakingly promote and practise TGSR, ingrained in GTG, towards all-embracing advancement, prosperity and SCD of oil-rich and Christianised Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom, in the ongoing worldwide era of globalisation, especially economic globalisation, GG and SD. Keywords: Natural Law; Natural Right; Bonny Kingdom; Amanyanapu (Monarchs/Kings); Founding Ancestors; Founding Fathers, Patriarchs and Premier Monarchs; Aseme (Royal Pedigree: Aboriginal Royal); Duawaris (Founding & Aboriginal Royal Houses); Blood Descendants; Human Rights; Good Public Sector Governance (Good Governance [GG]); Good Traditional Governance (GTG); Traditional Government Social Responsibility (TGSR), Positive Law, Sustainable Community Development (SCD), Sustainable Development (SD); Wari (Ward, Lineage or House); House System. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-3-08 Publication date: March 31 st 2020
Highlights
This study covers the hereunder discussed sub-headings captioned ‘Bonny Kingdom’, ‘Grand Bonny Kingdom: Its Origin, Cradle of its Civilisation and Common Heritage’, and ‘the House System, Houses and Successive Monarchs of the Kingdom’.The house system of the Kingdom is the same as the ward or lineage system
This study represents a concise history of the natural law-oriented bedrock of traditional leadership and primordial society of oil-rich Niger Delta region’s Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom, otherwise known as the Ancient Ibani nation (Ibanise), established by the Founding Ancestors of the Kingdom before or about AD 1,000
It discusses the Kingdom, called Bonny Kingdom, as a significant symbol of a primordial civilisation of Ancient Niger Delta region and Africa at large. It highlights that the Kingdom was the economic and political centre of the Ancient Niger Delta region and a significant symbol of African civilisation, before the creation of Opobo Kingdom out of it and the eventual evolution of modern Nigeria
Summary
This study covers the hereunder discussed sub-headings captioned ‘Bonny Kingdom’, ‘Grand Bonny Kingdom: Its Origin, Cradle of its Civilisation and Common Heritage’, and ‘the House System, Houses and Successive Monarchs of the Kingdom’. The foregoing sub-headings demonstrate that public sector governance was practised at the beginning of the Kingdom, within the rubrics of the house system, by the Founding Ancestors, led by the Founding Fathers, Patriarchs and Premier Monarchs of the Kingdom, namely Ndoli-Okpara, Opuamakuba, Alagbariya and Asimini. These subheadings establish the importance of traditional rulership in the Kingdom, based on the house system, which evolved as the ward or lineage system. There is a need for these apex traditional rulers of oil-rich Bonny Kingdom, namely the Monarchs (Amanyanapu) and Country Chiefs (Se-Alapu) to promote, achieve, practise and sustain GTG, based on traditional government social responsibility (TGSR) inherent in natural law and its characteristic good governance features, such as love, truth, goodwill, fair-play, selfless public service, responsible stewardship, integrity, succumbing to the voice or voices of reason and abiding by due process, towards sustainable community development (SCD) in the Kingdom, in the ongoing worldwide era of globalisation, especially economic globalisation, good governance (GG), and sustainable development (SD)
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