Forest Reserve Ownership: Akwa Ibom Communities Beat War Drums

By Patrick Titus, Uyo

Aggrieved leaders, elders, youths and stakeholders from the oil and gas host communities of Ibeno and Ekid, have threatened to resurrect an age-long dispute over the ownership of a disputed Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve.

Under their apex socio-cultural organisation – Ekid Progressives Union (EPU) led by the President-General, Dr. Samuel Udonsak, they warned their coastal neighbours, Ibeno, to hands off the land or risk resumption of hostilities that had already taken its toll on Ibeno.

Worried by the current stance of the Ekid aggressors, the state governor had offered to mediate with himself as the committee chairman, a move the Ekid protesters rejected and urged the governor, who had ready balkanised the forest with allocations to oil firms including BUA Petrochemical Refinery and Fertilizer firm.

But the leadership of Ibeno traditional rulers council, described the position and argument of Ekid as fabricated lies to annex the forest.

Speaking through their Spokesperson, Chief Udofia Okon Udofia, on Sunday at Ukpenekang, headquarters of Ibeno Local Government Area on Sunday, they said the current false alarm raised by Ekid, was unfounded, desperately concocted to give 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 own peace committee, they would retreat and showing high handedness,” said Udofia adding that, “Eket people have become experts in historical fiction and drama.”

He further stated that the ownership of Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve is currently subjudice 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 they described as “voodoo politics” by a daughter of Eket, whom they accuse of “roaming the forests reserve and pouring libation against the governor and traditional rulers, when a woman supposed not to do so going by the tradition.

“This is not just an affront to the government, but to the very soul of our state’s traditions. Eket cannot cry foul when they are the ones 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, “What does 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 rhetorics (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.