Chieftaincy Tussle Brewing Violence In Akwa Ibom Community, Elders Warn

The Ekpri Nsukara Offot community in Uyo local government area of Akwa Ibom State has been embroiled in chieftaincy tussle over the traditional stool of the village with opposition mounting against the elected Village Head, Etteidung Emem Denis Asikpo.

One Udeme Eyo Asuquo, LEADERSHIP gathered, is said to be leading the parallel headship of the village under a splinter group – Voice of Liberation Network (VLN), challenging the legitimacy of the village authority under Etteidung Asikpo.

Describing such audacity as alien to common sense, the Village Council of the community, in a communique made available to Journalists in Uyo, the state capital, warned the opposition coalition led by Mr. Asuquo, to stop acting in bad faith following his failed bid to install his crony as the village monarch.

The communique recalled that Mr. Asuquo, acting on behalf of himself and others, “had after his group lost out in the race to have their desired aspirant to emerge as the village head in 2023, consistently embarked on the mission of spewing falsehood and writing unfounded petitions against Eteidung  Asikpo.”

“Since then, Udeme Eyo Asuquo, and his group have taken it upon themselves to concoct, instigate, fabricate and raise non-existing happenings against Eteidung Asikpo, in a bid to tarnish his reputation and cause crisis in the community with the sole intention to have him removed from the throne,” the community leaders stated.

The communique signed by the village council elders;  Comrade Morris Silas Bassey, Chairman, Village Council; Elder Domingo Bassey Etim, Secretary, Village Council and Mr. Pius Okon, Youth President of the Village, therefore urged members of the public to disregard some one – sided online media reports on the matter, arguing the reports were biased.

According to them, the oppositions’  petition titled “Akwa-Ibom Residents Petition Tinubu, Accuse Police Officers, Village Heads Of Land-Grabbing, Attempted Murder,” as captured in the media reports, only existed in minds of their purveyors, especially the so called VLN.

The community recalled that Udeme Eyo Asuquo had equally sent a petition to the Deputy Inspector General of Police on February 27, 2025, which led to the unlawful arrest and detention of Eteidung Asikpo, from March 8 – 12, 2025, at both the Akwa Ibom State Police Command and the Police Headquarters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“However, the petitioner  was unable to provide any tangible evidence to buttress any of the allegations, which caused the Police authorities to release Eteidung  Asikpo, and then requested the Paramount Ruler of Uyo, “to look into any dispute between the parties.”

“But surprisingly, Udeme Eyo Asuquo failed to show up on the date the case was fixed. Again, after being granted the request for adjournment, he still dishonoured the traditional council by failing to appear on another hearing date,” they noted.

The community, however, expressed dismay that Mr. “Asuquo still came up with another Shenanigan, by raising fresh petition against Eteidung Asikpo, to the Police Headquarters in Abuja, leading to another round of arrest, and yet he could not substantiate his claims.”

The community wondered why he (Asuquo) abandoned the matter only to resurface now with a cooked up information to the online media.

The community officers  therefore warned Asuquo, to desist forthwith from his penchant of recycling false allegations against the village head and by extension the entire village, and to accept the reality that kingship comes from God.