The ownership battle of Stubb Creek Forest Reserve between the people of Ibeno local government of Akwa Ibom State and the Ekid union may not be ending soon as the union has been accused of unleashing vendetta on the state government following its position on the reserved forest.
Governor Umo Eno while lending his voice to the matter, faulted Ekid nation’s ownership claims insisting that the land was legally constituted as a forest Reserve Order No. 45 of 1930 and is held in trust by the governor under the Land Use Act of 1978.
However, the Secretary of Ibeno Clan Council, Chief Udofia Okon Udofia in an interaction with journalists in Upenekang Ibeno, said instead of seeking legal redress in court or peace committee as earlier proposed by Governor Eno, EPU allegedly resorted to insults, incitement and personal attacks against the Governor and the institutions of government.
He noted that the language directed at the Governor in recent times was not accidental but strategic, just to desecrate the office and scare away investors, saying “EPU’s action has shifted from grievance to weaponized hostility.”
His words, “the turning point in the life of EPU came after Governor Umo Eno declined to endorse union’s false claims over the Stubbs Creek Reserve Forest (Odorokuku/Utan Ibeno).
“That lawful refusal, based on records and the responsibility of government to all citizens, became the trigger for an all-out confrontation. From that moment, EPU stopped arguing its case and began prosecuting a vendetta against the state,”
He also noted that EPU’s posture is hostile to investors, thereby endangering major projects envisioned by the state government.
“In its obsession with territorial claims, EPU projects the state as unsafe for serious investments. Investors thrive on predictability” he said while listing economic interests and infrastructure projects involving BUA, Seplat, Tulcan and the Coastal Highway as targets of rhetorical sabotage.
“Instead of seeing jobs, roads and revenue, they see leverage. Capital investment does not negotiate with chaos; it simply leaves.” He warned
Udofia maintained that, Governor Umo Eno’s refusal to validate disputed claims was an act of governance, not oppression.
“No Governor sworn to protect the entire state and people can surrender public trust to sectional or ethnic pressure: the law does not yield to volume, and records do not dissolve under insults.
“At a critical moment when Akwa Ibom needs stability, cohesion and investment, one union chose antagonism over engagement and obstruction over development.
“Governments come and go. Records remain. Development, once lost, is hard to recover and no union has ever succeeded in bullying truth, institutions and time into submission,” he noted.
Stop prosecuting vendetta against Akwa Ibom govt over forest reserve – Ibeno elders to EPU
