When a new chief is installed into one of the original 14 houses, the ceremony explicitly invokes the names of the Eteima of the past. A common phrase chanted during the "Se ikaki" (the breaking of the kola nut) is: "We call on the Eteima of the Wari 14. Let the path be straight."
Eteima Bonny Wari 14
Consider this: If the first Eteima was alive in 1600, the 7th might have lived through the British Punitive Expedition of the late 1800s. The 10th would have witnessed Nigerian independence. The 13th would have lived through the Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War, 1967-1970), which devastated the Bonny-Warri axis. is likely a post-civil war leader, born in the 1950s or 1960s, who spent his youth rebuilding his community’s fishing and trading networks. Eteima Bonny Wari 14
Today, the Kingdom of Bonny is a traditional state within the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While modern governance (local government councils and the Nigerian Police) exists, the traditional chieftaincy system remains incredibly powerful regarding land ownership, chieftaincy titles, and cultural identity. When a new chief is installed into one