Protest In Oil Communities As Gov Emmanuel Declares State Owners Of Lands

Ownership of the disputed oil-rich Stubb Creek Reserves (Akoiyak) covering large swath of land stretching into the coastal communities of Akwa Ibom State has put the Ekid people in Eket and Esit Eket local government areas on warpath.

The Stubbs Creek Forest is host to ExxonMobil’s Qua Iboe Terminal (QIT) and other crude oil reserves. It has been an area of dispute between Ekid people of Eket and Esit Eket and Akwa Ibom State government and the people of Ibeno, all laying claim to the land.

Ekid people in a peaceful protest in Eket yesterday asked the state government to “undertake proper delineation of local council boundaries in the state in line with historical antecedence and judicial pronouncements that had existed since 1916, and grant us complete control of the Stubbs Creek forest”.

They also said that the claims of ownership of the Stubbs Creek Forest by the state government and Ibeno local government, “is parochial, provoking and intentionally done to rob us of their littoral status and as well the benefits of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which accrue to oil bearing communities”, vowing that they would stop at nothing to correct the injustice.

The governor had since declared that ownership of all the lands in the state resides in the government and warned traditional rulers against illegal boundary delineations.

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But the protesters described the pronouncement of the chairman of Ibeno, Mr William Mkpah, and that of the governor, pertaining to the land “as against the interest of Ekid people, who are the original owners of the land”.

The president-general of Ekid Peoples Union, Dr Samuel Udonsak, who led the protest, noted that the land has always been in Ekid territory from time immemorial.

“The ownership of Akoiyak (Stubbs Creek Forest) is not in dispute and indeed can’t possibly be as the ownership is absolutely vested in Ekid people in perpetuity by inheritance/devolution from our progenitors/forebears/ancestors evident in historical facts and extant judgements of several courts of competent jurisdiction at various times.

“Neither the creation of a Local Government Area, nor a new state can usurp the rights of ownership of land or vested interest, proprietary rights, powers and privileges of the original owners.

“Akwa Ibom State has no gazette map that is reflective of the true historical antecedence and the plethora of judicial pronouncements. Though land is vested in government, but the Land Use Act (LUA) prevents any commandeering or confiscation of people’s land in exercising such powers of expropriation under the Act.”

He stated that the Land Use Act and section 44 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) renders any purported government’s acquisition without compliance with the procedure invalid, null and void.