Akwa Ibom Communities Threaten Attack Over Forest Reserve Ownership

Aggrieved leaders, elders, youths and stakeholders from rival ethic nationalities drawn from the oil and gas host communities of Ibeno and Ekid, have threatened to reignite their perennial skirmishes over the rightful ownership of the disputed Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve.

The Ekid Progressives Union (EPU) led by the president-general, Dr Samuel Udonsak, warned their coastal neighbours, Ibeno, to keep their hands off the land or risk resumption of hostilities, which had already taken its toll on Ibeno.

Worried by the threat of the Ekid, Governor Umo Eno had offered to chair the mediation committee, a move the Ekid protesters rejected, accusing him of balkanising the forest and allocating it to oil firms, including the BUA Petrochemical, Refinery and Fertiliser firm.

But the leadership of Ibeno Traditional Rulers Council described the position and argument of Ekid as fabricated lies to annex the forest.

Through its spokesperson, Chief Udofia Okon Udofia, on Sunday at Ukpenekang, headquarters of Ibeno local government area, said the current false alarm raised by the Ekid was unfounded, desperately concocted to give the lies a human face.

“We made the challenge in our last statement: produce the documents. They ignored it again. Instead, they chose media drama over substance.

“They claim ownership of Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve. Yet, when invited by the government’s peace committee, they would retreat and show high-handedness,” said Udofia, adding that “Eket people have become experts in historical fiction and drama.”

He said the ownership of Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve is currently subjudiced under active litigation and accused Eket leaders of committing contempt of court by repeatedly discussing and campaigning on the matter in the media.

The Ibeno group also condemned what it described as “voodoo politics” by a daughter of Eket, whom they accuse of “roaming the forest reserve and pouring libation against the governor and traditional rulers, when a woman is not supposed to do so, going by the tradition.

“This is not just an affront to the government, but to the soul of our state’s traditions. Eket cannot cry foul when they are spitting on tradition and in the face of peace,” Ibeno stakeholders stated, querying, “What do Ekid people really want?”

The group, however, posed some weighty questions, such as, “What do Eket people really want? Peace or war?”

“Instead, much of what is being heard from Eket people has come through media interviews, traditional or emotional rhetoric (woman pouring libation) and alleged historical narratives passed orally but unbacked by legal documentation.

“To be taken seriously in a land or resource dispute of this scale, Eket would need to present; historical land grants, surveys, or treaties (e.g., colonial-era maps or boundary definitions), Court judgments or government gazettes assigning ownership, land ownership titles, lease agreements, or formal community resolutions and evidence of continuous occupation or traditional jurisdiction over the Stubbs Creek area,” he stressed.