As the ownership tussle of the Stubb Creek Forest reserve in Akwa Ibom State continue to rage between the Ekid Peoples Union, EPU, and Ibeno; the Ibeno Clan Council has described the submissions of the EPU before the State Land Use Allocation Committee as distorted, misleading and capable of undermining peace, lawful governance and investment in the state.
Recall that Ekid nation while appearing before the committee on January 16, repeatedly made reference to a 1918 Privy Council judgment saying that the judgement conferred on them the perpetual ownership of the entire Stubbs Creek Forest on them.
The Akwa Ibom State government, however, faulted the claims in a statement by its Commissioner for Justice, Uko Udom, SAN, saying that the historic case decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1918, did not vest ownership of Stubbs Creek land on any ethnic group or community.
Also, the Ibeno Clan Council, ll spokesman, Chief Udofia Okon Udofia, who spoke on behalf of the elders said the EPU lacks both constitutional and statutory powers to claim ownership control or veto powers over land administration in the state.
He wondered how powers of attorney allegedly issued by private individuals or traditional institutions as claimed by EPU can override the provisions of the 1999 constitution, the Land Use Act or the statutory powers of the Governor, who holds land in trust for the people.
While stressing that no colonial-era judgment could grant eternal proprietary rights over a forest reserve duly declared and managed by government under valid statutes; Udofia noted that if such judgment exists, it would have been context-specific and cannot supersede post-independence constitutional frameworks, forest reservation laws or subsequent statutory control by government.
Speaking on the labeling of the BUA refinery project as “criminal encroachment,” by the EPU, Chief Udofia said such statement was reckless, defamatory and dangerous as BUA was acting on allocations and approvals lawfully issued by government and any dispute over title remains a civil matter, not a criminal one.
He advised the Ekid nation not to forget that based on the provisions of the Land Use Act, the Governor holds all lands in trust for the people and can be used for the overriding interest of the public saying that industrial developments such as refineries, petrochemical plants and mining projects clearly fall within that provision.
The Spokesperson also condemned claims by the EPU that even lands currently occupied by Ibeno people belong to then, stressing that Ibeno is a constitutionally recognised Local Government Area, whose territorial integrity cannot be erased by ethnic declarations or petitions to security agencies.
Stubb Creek: Your claims are misleading, distorted – Ibeno elders fire back at Ekid