Tai Tokerau's Ngati Hine people are arming for battle over the right to settle the Ngapuhi Treaty claim.
Ngapuhi settlement board, Tuhoronuku, has sent individual voting packs and announced hui starting this week, in a bid for the mandate to negotiate with the Crown.
Ngati Hine is the largest sub-tribe of Ngapuhi and is challenging the runanga's grip on fisheries money and the claims process.
Hapu leader Te Waihoroi Shortland says the board lacks the mana, the representation, and the consent of major hapu to do any such thing.
He says sending voting papers, and calling mandating meetings makes a farce of ongoing mediation talks, led by former Prime Minister Jim Bolger.
Mr Shortland says Tuhoronuku is a Crown-backed organisation, that does not fairly represent the hapu of the north and it's trying to individualise what should be a collective process.
Tuhoronuku says surveys have shown 91% of Ngapuhi want to negotiate a settlement.
