Gov Eno Warns Communities Threatening Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway

Governor Umo Eno has expressed anger over some ethnic leaders of Ekid extraction who have vowed to stop the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project from passing through the Stubb’s Creek Forest Reserve, which spans across several local government areas, including Eket, Esit Eket, Mbo, and Ibeno.

Under the aegis of the Ekid People’s Union (EPU), the apex socio-cultural organisation of Eket/Esit Eket ethnic nationality, led by the president-general, Dr Samuel Udonsak, LEADERSHIP learnt, had issued a caveat emptor, warning the federal and state governments, or their agents, from encroaching on the forest reserve.

The state government had taken over part of the reserve and leased it to some investors, including BUA Petrochemical and Fertiliser, for commercial purposes. However, the governor regretted that a series of confrontations by the protesting Ekid leaders had stalled the project.

Addressing the leaders, elders and stakeholders of Ekid, during the commissioning of the ultra-modern health centre at Nduo Eduo community in Eket LGA, the Governor Eno warned that under no circumstances would he allow his simplicity and humility to be taken for granted by the Ekid people, having lived and established his businesses in Eket, before becoming Governor in 2023.

He, therefore, vowed to wield the big stick against those trying to sabotage his government “because I had lived with them and they knew my father and mother before I became Governor.”

“Make no mistake, this is government. I have seen a caveat emptor and a letter from the federal ministry concerning the Stubb’s Creek Forest Reserve.

“Nobody will stop that Lagos-Calabar coastal highway from passing through the Stubb’s Creek Reserve because it’s a government reserve. Let me make it clear, any day the government wants to do something, it will do it.

“Leaders of Ekid, call your people to order. Don’t take my quietness for granted or my humility for stupidity. A child sometimes plays with his mother as if he would not cry.

“Being confrontational will not yield any dividends for you. I am saying this for the last time. You cannot stop a necessary process,” he warned.

He, therefore, urged parents to call their children to order and used negotiations to settle issues without undermining government because “there can only be one Governor and government at a time.”

He lamented that as an orphan, God brought him from the farm to become Governor, regretting that detractors were trying to sabotage the smooth running of his administration, but vowed that he was ready to deploy any force of nature to deal decisively with any opposing forces trying to clog the wheel of progress already set in motion to engender all – round developments in the State.