Thoh:
brother, I'm sorry for that, forgive me.

I can't speak for the Oros, I'm not too sure of their Ijawness but Andonis are even more Ijaw than I do..

Andoni elders are in INC, the Ijaw nation congress and Andoni youths in IYC, the Ijaw youth counsel.

Timothy Igbifa the IYC president is from Andoni akwa ibom.

Is ok.. meanwhile Andoni is in rivers no Akwa ibom state

Ilaumoh:

Is ok.. meanwhile Andoni is in rivers no Akwa ibom state

I mean Obolo people.

Obolo man is leading all Ijaw Youth. Timothy Igbifa.

Thoh:
I mean Obolo people.

Obolo man is leading all Ijaw Youth. Timothy Igbifa.

But Obolo are not Ijaw people by any stretch, hence we say IYC is not based on ethnic relationship. Na franchise things

Thoh:
I mean Obolo people.

Obolo man is leading all Ijaw Youth. Timothy Igbifa.

Obolo call God Awaji , how do ijaw call God ?

From the discussion between a Jo man and Obolo indigene here, I just noticed that the Obolo son doesn't even know that his people are now part of Ijaw ethnicity.

Lol, like your people were registered into a new ethnicity and you are not aware of it. Some people don't actually pay attention on what is happening around them.

I don't wish to interfere but the Obolo dude should go and check his people's Wikipedia page. They are classified as Ijaw by Jo men without their consent.

BKayy:
From the discussion between a Jo man and Obolo indigene here, I just noticed that the Obolo son doesn't even know that his people are now part of Ijaw ethnicity.

Lol, like your people were registered into a new ethnicity and you are not aware of it. Some people don't actually pay attention on what is happening around them.

I don't wish to interfere but the Obolo dude should go and check his people's Wikipedia page. They are classified as Ijaw by Jo men without their consent.

Is best you stay away from things that’s doesn’t concern you ??

Ilaumoh:

Is best you stay away from things that’s doesn’t concern you ??

Or what?

IDENNAA:


But Obolo are not Ijaw people by any stretch, hence we say IYC is not based on ethnic relationship. Na franchise things

Exactly

BKayy:

Or what?

Or you may continue to wallop in ignorance

Ilaumoh:

Or you may continue to wallop in ignorance

Ignorance that you don't know when your people joined the Ijaw train?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obolo_people

The joke is on you

Ilaumoh:

Or you may continue to wallop in ignorance

Now , who is the ignorant one..

IDENNAA:


Now , who is the ignorant one..

Can you carefully read the attached from Wikipedia and realize is only Andoni and Ndoni the were referring to as ijaw, and that Ibeno and eastern obolo n oron share similarities with obolo but not ijaw

Ilaumoh:

Can you carefully read the attached from Wikipedia and realize is only Andoni and Ndoni the were referring to as ijaw, and that Ibeno and eastern obolo n oron share similarities with obolo but not ijaw

Guy, it is now obvious that you are ignorant. Well, we know that you people do not know... you are busy fighting each other to even know that Ijaw expansionism exist.

Ekealterego:

Guy, it is now obvious that you are ignorant. Well, we know that you people do not know... you are busy fighting each other to even know that Ijaw expansionism exist.

It’s funny how you want to force a narrative to me that is an obolo man .. relax na

Kinematics:



Ibos wailing more that the obolo man. Is this not wonderful?

BKayy:

Ignorance that you don't know when your people joined the Ijaw train?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obolo_people

The joke is on you

Nwanne, hapu ndi apari a.

I understand what is happening.

Do you know IYC is even fuelling the fight?... When you read, you will see what is happening.

Just like they tried in Abia state and failed. They will first try to isolate you and make you fight within yourself and they will come issuing communiques and press statements to show "support" while fuelling and sponsoring fights.

Episode 3 on the Cold War btw Ibeno and Eket:

Crisis over Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve, attempt to scare away investors — A/Ibom monarch
Patrick Odey

14 December 2021
Kindly share this story:
Map of Akwa Ibom
Map of Akwa Ibom


The paramount ruler of Esit Eket, Akwa Ibom State, Edidem Ubong Peter Assam II, has expressed deep concern over the crisis for ownership of the Stubb Creek Forest Reserve, describing it as an attempt to scare away potential investors.

Two neighbouring local governments, Eket and Ibeno LGAs have laid claim to the ownership of the Reserve and threatened a showdown in the area, which the BUA Group of Companies has indicated interest to construct a refinery in the state.

The Eket and Esit Eket local government areas had, in a press statement signed by Obong Samuel Atang and Manfred Ekpe Esq, said, “We are now ready to chase away any investors till justice is done, this is a notice to intending investors all over the world who have interest in establishing on the Akwa Ibom Atlantic Coast.

“We hereby declare that any foreign and local investors who do not recognize Eket and Esit Eket local government areas as landlords to any industry proposed for the Stubb’s Creek should pack and leave the area.”

But addressing the press as a rejoinder the people of Ibeno said they would not keep quiet and allow a prospective investor slid from them due to the excesses of the Eket and vowed to protect the personnel of the company as well as ensure their unfettered operations in the disputed Stubb’s Creeks Reserves.

The press conference text jointly signed by the council chairman and the secretary Chief Ikoedem Ekong and Pastor Tom Afia respectively reads in parts, “We regard the recent brazen and audacious quit notice which the Ekid people have issued to BUA group, a prospective investor as baseless.

“While we repeat that these people have always been on hand to kill prospective projects not minding how their selfish and baseless attitude affect the general good which those projects have the potentials to bring to the entire state, we hope that the government of Akwa Ibom state has paid attention to the continuous insults threats and disdain meted out against Ibeno by the Ekids these past months.”



Read Also
Giving people bags of rice isn’t empowerment, says Akwa Ibom gov aspirant, Owodiong
We'll not tolerate any trespass to our land, Akwa Ibom community vows
2,000 people to get free medicare in Akwa Ibom -Lawmaker
However, the traditional ruler in a statement he issued on Monday said, “My Local Government Area and its law-abiding citizens reject acts capable of thwarting the smooth take-off of the envisaged refinery located at the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve (Akoiyak Ekid).

“The good citizens of Esit Eket Local Government Area are favourably disposed to BUA Group of Companies establishing its BUA Refinery at the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve (Akoiyak Ekid).”

The monarch said that the entire people of Ekid nation are in support of the industrialisation drive of Governor Udom Emmanuel adding that the governor was committed to satisfying all citizens and Ekid nation, the owner of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve (Akoiyak Ekid).

Lalasticlala,seun, mynd44 front page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39bjFjQ3ik

Lalasticlala, seun , mynd44 front page

REJOINDER TO NATIONWIDE PRESS CONFERENCE ISSUED BY ITID AFIGH EKID UNION (AKA EKET PATRIOTIC PLATFORM) BY THE JOINT COUNCIL

OF MPONO NNITO IBONO AND ULOK ULOK PEOPLE ASSEMBLY ON 8TH DECEMBER, 2021.

On Tuesday 30th November, 2021, a nationwide press conference was conducted by a group which called itself Itid Afigh Ekid Union, aka Eket Patriotic Platform. The group claimed that they were speaking for and on behalf of the people of Eket and Esit Eket, jointly called the Ekid people. One week after the said nationwide press conference, there has not been any sort of refutal of any of the claims, albeit watery, made in that press conference from any quarters in the whole of Ekid land, so we will be right to adopt same as the position of the Ekid, as they have accepted to be called: a name which is a true reflection of their origin as we well know, and for which we will deal extensively on in this release.

We will not follow the inglorious path of beating the drums of war with the Ekwids, as we call them, instead, we want the world to know that it is the people of Ekid who have consistently boasted of their possession of a war chest, and, being the wild Ibibios, as they have also recently claimed, would not hesitate to unleash their wild, animalistic and intractable war chest on Ibeno. What we simply insist on doing is to set the record straight; and that, we do with hard facts, supported by extant documents, most of which date back as far as our existence in our abode as people of Akwa Ibom State.

The name Ibeno or Ibono, as aboriginal pronunciation goes, does not come from Ekid dialect as falsely claimed by the Ekets. Ibeno in the original Obolo language means ‘left’, that is to say, people who have left. The name came from the history of Ibeno as a people who left their ancestral place in the Cameroons to Rio Del Rey, which they made their first homeland for a long time, and from where they travelled through tortuous sea routes to again settle, though briefly, at Obutong, now Creek Town in Cross River State, before further departing and moving eastwards towards Andoni in Rivers State. This movement has been variously recorded by historians to have happened between 800-1200 AD. Ibeno has a rich, well articulated and enviable history. A distinguished, perculiar and indomitable seafarers, we ultimately landed on the West Coast African Sub Region, Eastern Niger Delta on the Gulf of Guinea along the Atlantic Ocean between Cross River through Qua Iboe River and Bonny River/Andoni River . Ibeno, in fact, Obolos generally were the first settlers in the Eastern Niger Delta. Historians such as Ikuru, 1953, Jeffreys, 1931, Jones, 1963, Anene, 1966, E. N. Amaku, 1937, Prof Uya, 1984, Ejituwu,1991 all stated these facts in their books which enjoy world acclaim.

The Ekid have been claiming ownership of Ibeno traditional lands for ages. The truth is that the Ekid people do not have a history. Their only history is traceable to Ibeno, which they departed from as dissidents of war, which event happened during the Nna Biget’s war with Ibeno between 1701- 1708. The same Talbots, which is quoted by the Ekid people also says of them thus: “Eket has no known history. The only history of Eket is that they are dissidents of Nna war.” Ibeno did not share boundary with the Ekid people before 1708. Historically, before the Colonial era, our trade activities were conducted with European traders and other neighbouring riverine areas, such as Bonny, Andoni, Kalabari, Oron, Ikot Abasi and the people of Ukat in Ubium who were our closest neighbour. When the dissidents from Nna war departed from Ibeno, they moved northwards and were led by their oldest Progenitor by name Okpo Eti from where they first had their settlement at Effoi before they spread into the first 9 original clans (five major clans and four minor clans). When they settled in this new homeland, they formed a barrier between Ukat and Ibeno. It was when the people of Ibeno were going back towards Ukat for their usual periodical trade by barter that they discovered these people who had left Ibeno during the Nna Biget’s war. The people who discovered them now took back the story that those dissidents who left have been found. To this day, Ibeno calls them Ekwid, meaning we have found them. This is corroborated by the Eket word, Ekid, which also means found in exactitude of the name Ibeno calls them.

On the issue concerning King Jaja of Opobo and the war with the people of Ibeno, we will begin by questioning the hardihood to report a war which the Ekets never experienced. In fact, apart from puerile intra-strives and petty tiffs among themselves as recorded by both G.I. Jones and Spence, the Ekids never fought any war. On the other hand, Ibeno fought against Nna Biget (Abiget was his real name but the Europeans called it Biget) in 1701-1708. We also fought against King Jaja of Opobo in a war which began on Monday,11 April, 1881, and lasted till about 1887 when Jaja himself was captured and taken captive by the Europeans who claimed that he was the master of juju which he applied to dissuade people from obeying the colonial masters. A few weeks ago the Chairman of Esit Eket even claimed that Ibeno first came to our abode during the Jaja war when they were removed from Andoni. That story is so poor that history would recoil on behalf of the fortunate young Chairman.

How dare the Ekets describe the people who fought wars with the greatest of Emperors as weak! There is no way Ibeno would have signed any agreement with King Jaja when Ibeno was already declared a Protectorate of the British Empire as at 1880 by the friendship and business agreement with George Watts which began since about 1871. In fact, it was the trade agreement that remotely led to the war between Ibeno and King Jaja. No historian, not even Talbots, would have written anything disrespectful of the great Ibeno people, who resisted even the much dreaded Jaja of Opobo! This is how a historian captured the event of April, 1881. “ Jaja first attempted to cajole the people of Ibeno into boycotting Watts, but was unsuccessful, so he quietly prepared a well armed expedition and sent it off, attacking the slumbering Ibeno villages, which were burned. Many people were slain, and altogether about 200 Ibenos lost their lives or were captured and taken to Opobo. Watts who was in England at the time, made representations to the Foreign Office, and his Agents on the coast did likewise to the Consul, with the result that qua Iboe was taken under British protection, and Jaja was told to leave the people alone.”

We still have the relics of the war lying at strategic locations in Ibeno until this day. For instance, the cannons which Ibeno people deployed to fight against King Jaja have remained as sacred items to remind us of the sacrifices of our forebears. This cannons are so valuable that a replica of it is standing today in Jerusalem with a bold inscription of the name Utong, a fitting tribute to Late King Uko Utong, the revered Ibeno king captured by King Jaja when he invaded Ibeno during the dead of night after being lured out in betrayal by an infiltrator. The memory of Late King Uko Utong and his acts of valour is relished forever in Ibeno.

Here are the various information given by historians about the Ekid people: William D. Spence, Acting District Officer, who was asked by the Resident, Mr. G. H. Findlay, to carry out intelligent investigation on how best to establish the Native Administration, captured the history of Ekets in his Report on the Eket Clan, dated March, 1931: “Throughout the investigation it was found that the people of Eket were rather reticent on the subject of their early history, not so much due to the fact that they were ignorant of it as to suspicion of the reasons for the enquiries. It is probable that as they are now a well-defined and solid unit they do not wish to be associated with the clan of their origin and perhaps be grouped with it for Native Administration purposes.”
The clan of their origin here referred is none other than Ibeno. As Spence stated further in his Report :
“ The majority of the people admitted that their ancestors came from Ibeno many years ago. Their story begins with a civil war in Ibeno, a war which they called Nna. During this war many people were driven out of Ibeno and their only avenue of escape was to the North. The refugees, led by a man known as Okpo Eti, fled to the North and settled in the country now occupied by the Eket Clan.”

To give further credence to this rather lucid and explicit history, one would have to take a look at the worship style of the early Ekets, up to 1887 when Rev. S. A. Bill came into Ibeno with the whiteman’s religion, the Qua Iboe Mission (Qua Iboe Church, the first Church in Akwa Ibom State). It was not denied at any time by the comparatively new settlers that their religion was rooted in the worship of Ndem then called Abasi Ibeno. On page 5 of Spence’s Report, he said, and we reproduce: “ The theory that the Ekets originated from Ibeno receives corroboration from the Religion of the Clan. Many of the towns, especially the Afaha and Etebi sub-clans, when questioned on the subject of their Ndems, gave the name of Abasi Ibeno as the greatest. They said that Abasi Ibeno was the “mother of all other Ndems” and lived in the sea at Ibeno, and that many years ago they used to go to the sea every year to sacrifice at the shrine of this Ndem.”

In 1936, precisely on the 3rd April, while writing to The Honorable Secretary, Southern Province at Enugu, H.P. James, Acting Resident, Calabar, made the following remarks about the Eket Clan: “The Eket Clan occupy an area of 70 sq. miles extending eastwards from the left bank of the Qua Iboe River between Eket Station and the sea until the the territory of the neighbouring Oron Clan is reached. They are bounded on the north by the Ibibio Clan of Ubium and Western Nsit, and on the South by the Ibeno Clan, from whom they are said to have ORIGINATED. The population is estimated at 20,000 with an average density of 286 to the sq. mile. They speak a language of their own which is similar to Ibibio but with traces of their IBENO EXTRACTION.” All emphasis ours.

The Ekid people have always been thumbing, obtrusive and uncompromising liars. Reverend S. A. Bill arrived Ibeno in 1887, lived, died and buried in Ibeno; he also spoke our language, mixed and intermingled freely with our people. When he died he was buried at the Qua Iboe Church vicinity, where his tombstone and that of his wife, Grace Bill stand to this day. To say that S. A. Bill testified in court that he saw Ekid exercising overlordship over the Stubbs Creek Forest is the cheapest lie of the century. Here is what S.A. Bill said in court, and we produce verbatim: “The Ibenos fished inside the bar and later on they went over the bar. The Ibenos are fishermen and traders. During the last 5 years they started fishing outside the bar. This compelled them to build on the seashore. The Ibenos have always fished in the swamps, they seemed to be mixed up in the fish. I know of one case in which Mkpanak claimed ownership of one creek which ran close up to my house at Uben Ekang. I have not seen Eket people fishing there. I have never heard of Ibeno paying tribute. When I first came the Ibenos cultivated land very very little.” Where in the testimony of S.A. Bill did he say that he saw any Ekid man, let alone that he saw them exercising overlordship? We know how desperate the Ekets are, but we will not permit them to sully the memory of S.A. Bill, a forthright preacher and torchbearer of Christianity in our land.

Ekid people have been hanging on to the Privy Council judgment of 1916. In all the cases that we have had in court they have attached this judgment. The truth again is that the judgment did not avail the Ekid people our land. The part of judgment which supposedly gave them tittle to the land was upturned by both the West African Court of Appeal and the Joint Committee of the Privy Council sitting then in London in 1918. Here is what the Joint Committee of the Privy Council said: "When the matter came before the Court of Appeal the Court varied this judgment; BY DELETING THE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH OF THE SAID JUDGMENT( emphasis ours), and their Lordships are of opinion, not merely by inspecting the records which has been sent over, but from the structure of Mr. Justice Webber's judgment, that what the Court of Appeal calls the " concluding paragraph " in its order as drawn up, is the whole of the passage which begins by saying that by this judgment he granted a declaration of title, and so on, down to the end of the judgment. THAT PASSAGE WAS SUPERFLUOUS BECAUSE, AS THE PLEADINGS SHOWED, NO DECLARATION OF TITLE HAD BEEN ASKED FOR BY THE EKETS (again emphasis ours). There was no reason for giving them a declaration which they had not prayed for, and, as to the remainder of the passage, it was, in the opinion of the Court of Appeal, RATHER AND (sic) EXPRESSION OF OPINION THAN A DEFINITION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE TWO DEFENDANTS AS REGARDS ONE ANOTHER.” The two defendants here referred were Upenekang and Eket; never Eket alone. Eket only applied to join the matter as joint defendants. Justice Webber attempted to do the impossible or thelegally unknown, probably because he was swayed by the need to please his in-laws, being married to an Eket woman then, but that silly sentiment turned out to be his undoing as his judgment, or a part thereof purporting to award title to the Ekid people was ripped apart and deposited in the dustin of historical ignominy by the appellate courts.

Mbre Inyang, Ata Ikim, Ekpo and other Eket indigenes all testified in favour of Ibeno as the real owners of the land. All were cross-examined and affirmed that they and their fathers paid tribute to their lbeno landlords as owners of the land before they were allowed to fish in the swamps forming the Stubbs Creek Forest. The name Okoiyak was actually got from Okoyak which was what Mkpanak people called the land. Ata Ikim, one of the witnesses testified thus: “ Mkpanak people call it Okoyak. Uben Ekang people do work on Okoyak. Ibeno people came before Eket people. We were where we are now.”

The people of Eket have hopelessly revisited this judgment in all their claims, not minding that their Lordships at both the West African Court of Appeal and Joint Committee of the Privy Council sitting then in London sufficiently pilloried and reprimanded the Hon. Justice Webber before EXPUNGING ( yes, for that is the word used by the Joint Committee of the Privy Council ) his inglorious opinion superfused in his judgment to the horror of known legal principles; they have even erroneously said that the Privy Council was the highest court in the world. How desperate! How naive!

The High Court sitting in Calabar in Suit No C/43/71 also deprecated the people of Eket over the same Privy Council case when His Lordship then said, while delivering his judgment, in dismissing the suit in 1980, and rightly so:“This part of the judgment was also quoted by their Lordships of the Privy Council in their judgment dismissing the appeal lodged by the Plaintiffs. But it was regarded as a DEAD WOOD and was lopped off from the rest of the judgment because it gave what the defendants never claimed. So that the final decision in this case declared no title to either party” Kodilinye v Mbanefo Odu 2 W.A.C.A.336 at P337. (all emphasis are ours) "The Plaintiffs had not proved their case in terms of their writ to warrant the declaration they seek. The judgment of this Court is that this action stands dismissed in all the claims and is hereby dismissed. “I assess costs in favour of the Defendants at N250” Per Justice D. A. ENO, 17th November, 1980.

The claim by Ekid that the doctrine of res judicata applies in this case is to say the least funny. First the law does not give what you do not ask for, as sufficiently established in legal lexicon that the court is not a father Christmas. At law, you cannot claim what you do not have. Ekid people have never been able to trace their root title to the said land, and the simple reason is because they do not have a root title to prove. They have carefully avoid that fact. You cannot claim customary title to land if you cannot trace your title conclusively to deforestation. They have no history concerning the Stubbs Creek Forest. Ekid came out of Ibeno. They have frantically jumped from claiming customary title to the land in one breathe and in another they will claim that there was a Privy Council judgment in their favour- a judgment that is self explanatory to the extent that all the courts have consistently thrown it overboard as already shown in earlier paragraphs. All the recent acts of cultivating on the land are clearly that of contempt. In due time, that issue will be addressed.

Ibeno people are not land grabbers, Ekid are. The truth is that if our people had been focused on protecting their lands, nobody today would even come close to any of our lands. Being fishermen, the focus of our people have been the marvels of the oceans, its intrigues and many wonders, but that is not to say that we would allow anyone to lay claim to our ancestral lands or even attempt to take over same. That will not happen anytime soon, nor at anytime in the future. All the claims by Ekids to ownership of our lands have always fallen on deaf ears because those claims have never been supported by evidence. From time immemorial the benefits of our lands have been enjoying exclusively by us to the exclusion of the Ekids who only brag and make empty boasts in their usual banal petitions, and on pages of newspapers and social media platforms. Ibeno were paid royalties yearly from Colonial period to the post independent periods. We have continued to receive those royalties to date.

From the days of Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation, to South Eastern Agricultural Development Corporation until today, the successive governments have always recognised Ibeno as the true owners of the lands which form the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve and all the royalties have been paid to Ibeno. Only a minor part of Edor land is included in the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve and this is reflected in the negligible amount which they received as royalties from E. N. D. C. from about 1958. The people of Ibeno have been on the land from time immemorial and have been receiving rents on the land to the exclusion of the Ekets. In the 1958-1959 financial year, a whooping £261.00 was paid as royalties accruing from the Stubb Creek Forest Reserve to Ibeno locality from E.N.D.C Sub-Treasury, Enugu. £ 2.00 only was paid to Uquo locality, while £2.1 was paid to Ibaka locality.In the 1962-63 financial year, £108.7 was paid to Ibeno as royalties from the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve In the 1963-1964 financial year, £134.17 was paid as royalties accruing from the Stubb Creek Forest Reserve to Ibeno. Usuk Effiat received £1.63. Nothing was paid to Uquo.In the 1964-1965 financial year, Ibeno received £126.16 as royalties. Usuk Effiat was paid £. 3.

Never was Eket paid even one Penny in all of these years, yet they have continued to lay claim, albeit falsely, to the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve. Government has always known who are the real owners of the land. Eket have been hanging hopefully to the believe that perhaps if they continued to tell these false tales, over many years, they may become believable. That is unfortunate!

We have witnessed on several occasions the manipulative, divisive, crafty, insufferable and over grasping machinations of the Ekets over the ages. We have always been consoled that if Satan could fight against the Hosts of Angels in heaven; if Satan could use the word of God to attempt to defeat the word of God, then who are we!

On the claim that part of the Stubbs Creek Forest is Ine Akpautong, we once and for all lay that dubious, puerile and foolish claim to rest. The Ekids have come to wash their dirty linen in the full glare of the public, whom we urge to have their glee herefrom. (i) There is no place known as Ine Akpautong, either as a village in Ekid land as a whole or in Esit Eket Local Government Area in particular. It is a truism that the Paramount Ruler of Esit Eket, Edidem Ubong Peter Assam, has no village, nor has he ever held a village council meeting at the supposed village. The only village in Esit Eket is by name Akpautong and the village head of Akpautong is by name Chief Solomon Idiyang. While contesting for the position of Clan head and subsequently Paramount Ruler, the village head of Akpautong took out a suit against the present Paramount Ruler of Esit Eket wherein he challenged the legitimacy of the current Paramount Ruler to contest for that position. In suit, the village head of Akpautong said, and rightly so, that there is no village known as Ine Akpautong in Esit Eket Local Government Area. The said Ine Akpautong is not found in the map of Esit Eket Local Government Area nor is it a Gazetted village under Esit Eket Local Government Area. (ii) The Paramount Ruler of Esit Eket cannot point to any village of domicile known as Ine Akpautong but rather, he resides at Uquo in Esit Eket where his palace is located.

The people of Ibeno, being fishermen, were always assisted by the Ekets as ‘firemen’ from time immemorial. These were not exactly slaves though their status was not too far different. They were those who would fetch firewoods and dry the fishes which were brought back by the fishermen. Most of these firemen were people of Eket origin. They lived as servants, always close to their masters, mostly always behind the houses of their masters, and served their masters, the Ibeno fishermen, dutifully, diligently and reverently. Our people of old treated them decently knowing that their services within the scheme or chain of their business was invaluable, but each fireman knew their status. Many prominent Eket people like the late U. I.Esuene, Senator Etang Edet Umoyo, the current Paramount Ruler of Eket Local Government Area, HRM. E.C.D. Abia all lived in Ibeno where they grew up with their parents who were firemen from where they also attended the prestigious Ibeno Central School, the first primary school with full boarding facilities established by Reverend S.A. Bill. Till today, most of the firemen working in Ibeno are Eket people. There are all around our families. Over the years, these people who were firemen grew in number and began to lay claim to being members of the villages where they were serving. In one of such scenarios, in Esuk Ikim Ekeme, a Gazetted village in Ibeno with a certificated village head, is where the supposed Ine Akpautong is. We challenge Esit Eket to show us the map of Akwa Ibom State showing “Ine Akpautong”. The manner with which the Paramount Ruler of Esit Eket received his title is not the purport of this press release. The question whether the Paramount Ruler of Esit Eket is from Ibeno as asked by the presenters of that press conference may sound funny, but in it too lies the absurdity they have found themselves when they attempted to plant a chief on a non existing village. Again we can only laugh at their dejected act of foolishness.

The Ekid people have a way of always attempting to rename Ibeno villages or even Ibeno lands with funny nomenclature or twisting those names in their dialect. For instance, very recently they have attempted to remane Ikot Nsung as Iko Nsung, but not one Ekid man alive can tell the origin of that name or how that place came to be known as Ikot Nsung. Whereas Ibeno does not only know the history but the creek passing through that place has been called Akpa Nsung by Ibeno from antiguty. We shall however not disclose that history here.

The Ekets have been citing phantom cases upon cases but have never produced the ratios of those cases and what the courts actually said. In their usual desperation we know that there is nothing they cannot tweak to favour but when one considers the substance, it would be far from what they made it to represent. Besides, in none of the suits mentioned were Ibeno a party. In all the cases touching on the Stubbs Creek Forest which Ibeno were directly challenged, none was decided against Ibeno. In 1980, while returning from the High Court of Cross River State where Ibeno obtained a judgment in her favour against the Ekid people, not only were our fathers who were representatives in that suit attacked by the Ekets, they also entered and destroyed some of the houses in Ibeno. The memories still linger till today.

As characteristic of the people of Ekid, they claim that the land up to where ExxonMobil is located belongs to them, and that they were paid £250,000 in 1970. We ask, which instrument was used to pay the said £250,000? This is a blatant lie. The Deed of Lease (1970) which Mobil Producing (as it then was) executed was between Ibeno, South Eastern State and Mobil. Late Brigadier U. J. Esuene, the then Military Governor of South Eastern State, signed on behalf of the State Government. Compensation paid for the land was clearly specified as belonging to Ibeno; the agreement itself was clear and distinct as to who was the landlord to Mobil. Recently, in one of their obtuse rantings on social media, the Ekids claimed that this same land was given to them for their inheritance by Esuene. Yet, it is that same Esuene, who as the Military Governor executed a Deed of Lease in favour of Ibeno, not that there was any contest though. Paragraph 8 of the original Lease Agreement states in part thus: “The Lease has, upon the execution of these presents, paid to the Governor the sum of £95,256, being prepared rent in respect of the parcel hereby devised representing fifteen years ending on the first day of Febr,1985…” Paragraph 9 says and we quote: “The Lease shall pay and has upon the execution of these presents paid to the Governor for the economic value of trees and crops on the demised parcel of land the sum of £20,000….” Their frustration with the government not our business, but one inch of our land will not be ceded to anybody. We challenge Ekid to bring up any receipt showing the payment of £250,000, and if they do, Mobil will be forced to address Ibeno and give explanations. But we know that the claim is one of the many wanton lies of the Ekid people.

Sometime in 1998 when Mobil needed more land to enable them to extend their facility (building of the new Administrative Block), the State government through the Bureau of Lands, Surveys & Urban Development, Governor’s Office, issued a letter granting access to part of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve to Ibeno people who were affected by the extension exercise for purposes of relocation. The letter dated 1st June, 1998 and signed by Dr. Cosmos P. Udofot, a Permanent Secretary, had the following caption: SURVEY: ALLOCATION OF LAND FOR RELOCATION- RE: ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR Q.I.T EXPANSION. Where were the Ekid people then? The simple answer is that they are only dreamers and very bad dreamers indeed.

In 1999, Obong Victor Attah, who was then the Governor of Akwa Ibom State signed a Certificate of Occupancy in favour of Mkpanak and Inua Eyet Ikot for land measuring about 31,047 hectares forming part of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve for purposes of relocation to Ibeno people displaced during Mobil expansion project.

In, precisely on the 28th September, Mr. O.P. Ekereuwem, Ag. Senior Divisional Officer, an Eket man, in a letter captioned TEMPORARY HUTS IN ENCLAVE CUT FOR MKPANEK” with Reference “OUR REF. SEK.466/s.1/ Vol.111/746. warned the Ekid tenants in Ibeno as follows: “ It has come to the notice of this office that those of you that have constructed some temporary huts in the enclave cut of(sic) from the Stubbs Creek Forest for Mkpanek have erected sizeable huts of more than two rooms…. I am here to inform you that with the permission given to you by Mkpanek, no one is allowed to build any structure of more than two rooms (bedroom and sitting room) in the area under discussion. Any extra room you have set up has to be negotiated between you and the Mkpanek people. I have been assured by the people of Mkpanek that they will treat all tennants (sic) fairly. I therefore advise you to co-operate.” Till date, Ekid people living on Ibeno land build temporary huts and we have been treating them fairly. But, as their practice, they are now claiming ownership of Ikot Nsung, Akpa Urua Ikot all in Odorokuku. Facts a sacred.

Before the communal crisis between Ibeno and the Ekid people in 1993, these same drums of war were gonged by them. Just before the war began, they had issued a statement in a State radio broadcast in 1993 that they have given Ibeno a Quit Notice and that the whole of Ibeno was their land; we were asked to go to the Atlantic Ocean. Little did we know then that before that broadcast, the people of Ekid had laid ambushment around Ibeno, waiting for the imminent order to attack. It is with this same experience, reminiscent of 1993, that we regard the recent brazen and audacious Quit Notice which the Ekid people have issued to BUA GROUP, a prospective investor. While we repeat that these people have always been on hand to kill prospective projects not minding how their selfish and baseless attitude affect the general good which those projects have the potentials to bring to the entire state, we wish to state the people Ibeno will not fold their hands to watch the over excesses of Ekid people. We hope that the government of Akwa Ibom State, and especially, the Governor, has paid attention to the continuous insults, threats and disdain meted out against Ibeno by the Ekids these past months.

To this end, we wish to sound it as a warning that: (i) No part of Ibeno land belongs to Eket. (ii) BUA Refinery is to be located in Ibeno. (iii) Ibeno will not tolerate any trespass to its land. (iv) Ibeno will defend BUA activities, its personnel, both local and expatriates. (v) Ibeno will never take up arms against Eket, but we will not fold our arms and watch the activities of miscreants in our land. (vi) If one leaf is taken from Ibeno into Eket, we will enter and collect twelve leaves. (vii) We will equally not permit one BUA personnel to be hurt or killed by Eket in the course of carrying out their legitimate construction work in Ibeno, which will be a blessing to Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria as a whole, (viii) The people of Ekid will ignore our warning at their own peril. They have boasted that they were going to finish us off in 1993 before the government intervened, perhaps this may be the opportunity to carry out this their long awaited yearning and desire. May they dare!

We know that the real problem of the Ekid people is the fear of the unknown because they have nothing to offer in this great State other than making people to believe who and what they are not. But we also know that there is no developmental strides carried out anywhere in the State that will not have a constructive and positive impact on all members of the State. The skittish and erratic behaviour of the people of Ekid cannot therefore be explained except that they have considered themselves the untouchables, or that they have the exclusive right to fermenting trouble. That will not continue to be the case going forward. Let this be a warning!

Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the press. We hope that this has been a rewarding experience to all of you just as it has been to us.

ULOK ULOK AYE! AYE!

IBONO ANYI! ANYI!

OBOLO ITIKI! IYA!

IBONO ILAHA ILA!

ABASI DIONG IBONO.

For themselves and on behalf of the entire people of Ibeno Local Government Area:

ELDER (HON.) CHIEF IKOEDEM EKONG PASTOR TOM SAMUEL AFIA

Joint Council Chairman Joint Council Secretary

Yhe funny thing about this whole issues, is ancestry and access to the ocean. For the sake of peace, the two local government would have to be balanced to make way for 5 other Local Govt to have access to the Atlantic. This is the way forward.

elemfado:
Yhe funny thing about this whole issues, is ancestry and access to the ocean. For the sake of peace, the two local government would have to be balanced to make way for 5 other Local Govt to have access to the Atlantic. This is the way forward.

it will produce Ibeno to only 5village local government or is that what you want ?

Ilaumoh:
it will produce Ibeno to only 5village local government or is that what you want ?

More villages will be created. The only idea here is to make peace reign in Aks and kill of this Ijaw propaganda in the process.