The adventures of Cadbury George Omieh took him to Sierra Leone, India and Burma. Long before he became the King of his people, he was at the war front, treating wounded soldiers in Adolf Hitler’s senseless war.
Early in life, the boy Cadbury resolved that he would be of service to his fellow man, his community, and the nation at large. He resolved to do that, first as a classroom teacher, and later as a dependable military nurse.
In fact, Omieh was the only grade one military nurse and grade one operating room assistant to attain that rank in the entire 82 West African Division which took part in the Burma campaign, from June 1941 to October 1946, in the turbulent years of the Second World War.
He received regimental training at the 12th Nigerian Regiment, Ikoyi, Lagos. Owing to his exceptional performance, he earned a quick promotion, and attained the rank of Company Sergeant Major, the highest rank an African could attain in the British West African Frontier Force at that time.
He was awarded three war medals for his gallantry. He also received a certificate for meritorious service, and was officially presented with a Japanese sword by the Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten of El-Alamein.
That Japanese sword was a token symbol for the soldier’s bravery in battle, and Omieh cherished the memory of that ceremony all his life. He remained proud of the fact that, in his discharge book, the Army described his character as excellent.
Till his last day, the words of A. B. Cook, the European officer who read out a testimony on Omieh’s service record, still echoed in the ears of the King. He remembered that day clearly every time images of the war flashed across his mind. The ceremony took place in Lagos on 21 October 1946.
‘I have known CG Omieh for over three years’, bellowed the voice of the white officer standing ramrod straight with a short speech in hand. ‘But he has been a member of this unit for five years, during which time he has risen to the highest rank which is possible for an African nursing orderly to attain (Warrant Officer Class Two).
‘Omieh is a class one nurse and a class one operating room assistant, being one of the first Africans in the service to attain this post which originally was always held by European sergeants. He has had considerable experience of theatre work and has assisted and supervised at many serious and major operations involving wounded soldiers.
‘As a senior NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) of this unit, he has proven to be a competent leader of Africans of many different nationalities. Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw etc. He is also an excellent teacher having a good command of English and a keen student, always eager and quick to acquire new knowledge’.
There was a hush made even deeper by the pause taken by Cook. All of Omieh’s platoon stood in their rank and file, listening with full attention, taking in every word that came from the officer in charge. Omieh was grateful to God that this was happening to him. He would have a story to tell his children someday.
Cook said: ‘Finally, I have a high opinion of his personal character and have found him loyal, trustworthy, painstaking, hard-working, and able to shoulder responsibility. He holds Lord Louis Mountbatten’s certificate of good conduct.
‘He wishes to train as a sanitary inspector in government service. He has already had considerable experience of supervising sanitation in this medical unit, and has attended an Army course on plumbing and sanitary engineering. I recommend him very strongly as a student of exceptional promise’. And then the officer took the salute and marched off the platoon amidst a blast of bugles and the roll of brass drums.
From colonial times, through political independence, to military and civilian times alike, King Omieh personified the ambit of Nigeria’s beleaguered history. At all times, from season to season, he simply worked hard at what he knew, kept faith with God, and contributed to the growth of his family, his local church, and the kingdom he was anointed to oversee.
In 1947, as a dashing young man, Omieh started his civil service career at the Ministry of Health, Public Health Inspectorate and served at various times in Ogoja, Enugu, Nsukka, Bonny, and Port Harcourt. He also had a stint at the School of Hygiene, Aba, first for a junior course in 1948, and subsequently for the senior course in 1962.
In the end, he bagged a National Certificate in Hygiene and Sanitation, secured the Royal Society of Health Diploma, London, and was admitted as an associate member of the Royal Society of Health, London.
He retired as a higher health superintendent in February 1975, but was re-engaged on contract basis, first, as a health superintendent for Nembe Health Zone, and later as a special adviser to Brass local government area on public health and sanitary matters, 1977 to 1979.
Omieh’s brief foray into politics came with his appointment as one of two councillors representing Brass coastal community under the military administration of Commander Alfred Diete-Spiff.
He also served as Chairman of the Brass-Okpoama Urban Councou’s Social Welfare Committee, as well as Chairman of the Primary Education Committee during the Second Republic.
Omieh was raised from the cradle as a Christian. He started his early Christian life and education at St Luke’s Anglican Church, Nembe, where he was also baptised. He was raised by his maternal uncle, Nicole Ikata, a catechist.
Even at that age, Omieh’s love for God was evident in his daily conduct and his everyday approach to the topical issues of the day. His devotion to the things of God remained steadfast even after he ascended the traditional throne of his people.
On Thursday, 3 August 1978, Omieh was crowned as Igoni XXI, Amanyanabo of Odio-ama Kingdom. He occupied the sacred stool of his forefathers for all of 36 years, passing away peacefully on Thursday, 27 November 2014. In the course of his reign, he brought remarkable peace and development to his kingdom.
In word and action, he gave the disposition of one who had learnt hard lessons in war time, and would rather act in the best interest of peace. To start with, Omieh’s reign attracted formal recognition to the Igoni stool on which 20 previous Kings had sat before him. For the first time in the history of Odioma community, the Bayelsa State government had good reason to classify the stool in the third class royal category.
After his installation, the new King embarked upon a truly daring and historic expansion of the ancient settlement. In spite of his record as a custodian of tradition and custom, King Omieh proved to be a dedicated Christian of the Anglican faith. In a bid to open up the frontiers of Odioma, he virtually re-enacted a scenario involving the missionaries in Chinua Achebe’s famous novel, Things Fall Apart.
He relocated the patch of land known as Seibou, the dreaded evil forest and its many shrines to a spot far removed from the town, and converted the place to usable territory. Today, many modern buildings have been built where that evil forest used to be. By so doing, he proved himself to be an agent of change in the finest sense of that expression.
What’s more, his far-flung travels to Sierra Leone, India, and Burma had brought him to a better appreciation of the critical role of education in the development of society. He had seen something of the civilised world to know that the future would be ruled by knowledge, rather than raw force. And so he began a relentless quest for the establishment of a secondary school in Odioma.
With the support of Chief S. G. Kpokiri-Eminingi and the famous educationist, Chief Theophilus Ngozi of blessed memory, the King worked relentlessly to ensure the materialisation of that dream. Today, the Community Secondary School, Odioma, is known to have bred sons and daughters of the community who are making exploits in various educational pursuits around the world.
King Omieh equally exerted his influence during the early days of his reign to ensure the provision of potable drinking water for Odioma. OMPADEC (Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission), the development agency that has since transformed into NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission), nearly succeeded, but the project was abandoned midway.
The boreholes waiting for active pumps, the operator’s quarters, and the generator house in Odioma testify to the result of that struggle. It is a mark of the late king’s efforts that today, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is working to supply water to Odioma in the not too distant future.
To mark his 21st year on the throne, Igoni XXI set about providing electricity supply to Odioma. He secured the first two power generating plants for the community under the Melford Okilo government. In later years, he prevailed on SPDC to provide the present generator now at work in the kingdom.
Following the spate of insecurity in the Kingdom and the devastation of the community in 2005, the King’s desire for peace and stability was underscored with the request for a police station for Odioma. Today, all the towns, villages, and fishing ports in the kingdom salute the memory of King Omieh for his foresight and his legacy of peace.
He was personally involved in the settlement of communal disputes and land cases between war canoe houses in the kingdom. His ardent desire was to keep Odioma Kingdom as neutral as possible in the face of conflicts in the neighbourhood, and he showed himself to be an able tactician in this regard.
In his days on the throne, King Omieh solicited the face of government and its agencies to undertake infrastructural projects for the Kingdom. A walk through Odioma today is enough to show the king’s successes with respect to the construction of culverts and jetties built by government.
In his capacity as a military medic of many years experience, the King’s most primary concern was the provision of health facilities. Indeed one heart-warming achievement of King Omieh’s reign was the opening of the first health centre in Odioma.
His qualitative experience in the public health sector also proved to be a blessing for the kingdom. The King’s big dream was that a standard health centre built by the World Health Organisation, would cater to the health needs of the people.
The King’s regular prayer was for peace, wisdom and God’s guidance. In 1999, at the critical turn of the century, in a year marking his 21st anniversary on the throne, King Omieh formally dedicated his stool to God in a historic sanctification ceremony.
The occasion attracted visitors from far and wide. On their part, the chiefs, elders, men, women, youths and children of Odioma had a grand opportunity to host the world and call for prayers of goodwill and solidarity.
He was equally hopeful for that day when the spire of a befitting church building would rise on the landscape of Odioma, overlooking the sea. The foundations of St Peter’s Anglican Church, Odioma, are deep enough to proclaim the attainment of that dream.
Born on Wednesday, 6 February 1918, at Odioma, during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King Okolo Agboribere, Igoni XIX, the young Omieh was familiar with every stretch of the waterfront, and every bend of the St Nicholas River. As a boy, his first pre-occupation was fishing.
His father, Chief Omieidiekuma Numonyingiware-Erise, and his mother, Princess Inigoni Omieidiekuma, daughter of Okolo, still hold formidable roots in Odioma kingdom in the present-day Brass local government area of Bayelsa State. He was the third child of the marriage, and the second male child of a truly glorious union that was blessed with six children.
As may be expected, the passing of King Omieh brought untold grief and mourning to his immediate family, and the people of Odioma. As Chief Waribugo Obed-Eminingi put it:
‘He spent a great deal of his life expressing his commitment to the cause of his people, and the overall improvement of their everyday circumstances. His exploits will continue to resound in the pages of history. We will miss his wealth of experience, his stories of adventure, his fatherly intelligence, and his resounding voice’.
