"Obuama, one of the most progressive communities in Kalabari, was founded in 1882 by Chief Tom Bigg Harry (Idoniboye Obu). The town was initially called Obukiri until the British Colonial administrators in Degema headed by Sir Ralph Moore decided to call the new town Harry’s Town after the founder, Chief Tom Bigg Harry. Later on, the town settled for the name Obuama in 1954.

Obuama continues to pride itself as a very religious community. Soon after the town was founded, the founder’s old friend Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther visited him on several occasions, and he would preach the gospel of Christianity. Obuama served as a base from where Bishop Crowther took off to the neighboring territories for evangelization. Today, three big churches exist in the town namely, St.Alban’s Anglican Church, St. John’s African Church, and the First African Methodist Episcopal(AME) Zion Church.

Obuama’s forward marching prosperity is attributed to the fact that the community has no common deity to be worshipped or liabated to by the town.  Chief Tom Bigg Harry’s early contact with Bishop Crowther in the years preceding the founding of Obuama could be said to be largely responsible for the absence of any community’s deity in the town. Presently, Obuama has no traditional ruler (Amadabo).Instead, it is ruled by a council of Chiefs that is headed by a Chairman."