Akwa Ibom Communal Attack: 2,000 Victims Take Protest To Governor, FG For Intervention
By Dennis Udoma
Barely four months after crisis erupted at Ndito Eka Iba community in Ibeno Local Government of Akwa Ibom State, about 2000 residents are still homeless, calling on the state and federal governments for urgent intervention.
The appeal follows a forceful sacking of the villagers of the oil-rich community allegedly by Ekid neighbours during the December 24, 2024 attack.
Addressing newsmen in Ibeno on Saturday, the villagers, who met at the palace of the Paramount Ruler of Ibeno, His Royal Majesty (Prof.) Effiong Achianga, lamented their ordeals, saying that many people were killed during the violent attack, while several children are still missing in addition to the destruction of properties worth N3 billion.
Other properties set ablazed in the inferno included houses, motorcycles, cars, churches, a government primary school, a primary health centre, boats with 15 outboard engines, and fishing gears, bringing socio-economic activities to a standstill.
Some of the victims, who spoke to our correspondent when he visited the area on investigation said Mr Monday, a villager, was among the victims brutally killed with head chopped off, recalling that the crisis started when the aggressors (Ekid people) renamed Ndito Eka Iba village which belongs to Ibeno Local Government Area as Okoiyak Ekid, Eket Local Government Area.
The Secretary of Ibeno Clan Council, Mr Okon Udofia Okon, blamed the incessant attacks on former Governor, Udom Emmanuel, who he said resorted to re-mapping the boundaries of local government areas in the state under the pretext of addressing boundary disputes.
Mr Okon further noted that the decision of former Governor Udom ended up raising more boundary crisis in the State, following the dislocation of some oil bearing villages who were ceded to his Local Government Area in Onna, a non oil bearing area in Akwa Ibom State.
According to him, it was a ploy by the ex-governor to link his local government area, Onna, to the Atlantic Ocean in order for it to benefit from the 3 percent contributions to communities by the oil companies operating in the area, as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Mr Okon said, “When the former Governor Udom Emmanuel said that Akwa Ibom never had a map, that the reason for his administration’s boundary adjustments was to address boundary issues to bring lasting peace in the state, little did we know it was a joker to make his local government area, Onna, a litoral one to enjoy the 3 per cent contributions to communities by the IOC’s operating in the area.
“That is why we took the matter to court on realisation, because the issue is part of the problems we are having now with our Ekid neighbours, who are cashing in on the boundary politics to take over our lands at Ndito Eka Iba village in Ibeno East, which had been renamed Okoiyak Ekid, Eket Local Government, with a purported village head, after a forceful removal of the substantive Village Head, through violent means, as well as the Ibeno indigenous people.”
Mr Okon further stated that, “it does not lie within the purview of the state government to create local government areas boundaries. Before the purported re-mapping, the people of Eastern Obolo Local Government Area during the period of the House of Assembly public hearing had taken the state government to court and won.
“The court judgment then clearly stated that the state or House of Assembly have no right to entertain or do anything concerning the boundaries between one LGA and another, and that it is exclusively the responsibility of the federal government under the Attorney General/Minister of Justice and the Surveyor-General of the Federation.
“So, with the judgment, the state government definitely have no authority to carry out the mapping or re-mapping of any local government area boundaries.”
The displaced Village Head of Ndito Eka Iba, Esoidung Enyina Okon Enyina, who also expressed his concerns over the December 24, 2024 invasion and violent attacks, appealed to the federal and state governments, the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), corporate organisations and well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid.
In the same vein, Chief Ekprikpo Uro and wife, Patience, solicited for the federal and state governments intervention to beef up security in the affected Ibeno communities for the displaced people to return and pick up their lives again.
“My house was razed with all my properties, including outboard engines and cash, as I escaped into the bush through the back door to take refuge in the Church near the river bank, so that I could inform other people returning from fishing that the village was under attack”, Enyina said.
His wife, Patience, was also said to have been manhandled during the attack, as she escaped with bruises to her sister’s residence in another community with only a night wear.
“I borrowed this clothes to put on from my sister when I heard about this meeting”, she said, calling for emergency measures from governments to resettle them as the crisis had destroyed their means of livelihood of fishing and petty maritime businesses.
The Village Youth President, Comrade Okoriko Robert, blamed the fracas on attempt by some aggressors from Ekid, especially one Aniedi Bassey, who along with others, came to Ndito Eka Iba village from Eket to do fishing business but ended up dabbling into the village headship tussle by trying to run a parallel village administration.
Comrade Robert however maintained that the attacks by Ekid neighbours often resulted in frequent confrontations, leading to loss of lives and properties.
While warning of reprisal, he noted their peaceful dispositions should not be misconstrued for weakness, but seen as peace-making due to the oil and gas investments in the area by the federal and state governments, calling on the government’s at both levels to wade in to avert future occurrences and disruption of oil production activities in Ibeno by the hoodlums from Eket and Esit Eket neigbhours.
