No fewer than 2,000 displaced residents of Ndito Eka Iba, a coastal oil bearing community in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have called on the federal and state governments for urgent assistance.
The appeal followed the forceful sack of the people from the fishing community during the December 24, 2024 attack allegedly carried out by their Ekid neighbours.
Addressing journalists in Ibeno at the weekend, the displaced persons, who converged on the palace of the Paramount Ruler of Ibeno, His Royal Majesty, Effiong Achianga, lamented their ordeal, saying “many people were killed during the violence, while properties estimated at about N3 billion was lost to an inferno that engulfed the area with the whereabouts of several children still unknown.”
Other properties set ablaze by the arsonists include houses, motorcycles, cars, churches, school, health centre, boats with outboard engines and fishing gears.
The displaced victims, who came out from their refuge to express their grievances, recalled that one of the residents identified as Mr Monday was brutally killed with his head chopped off, adding that the crisis started when the aggressors (Ekid people) renamed Ndito Eka Iba village as Okoiyak Ekid, to reflect their Ekid identity.
The Secretary of Ibeno Clan Council, Mr Okon Udofia Okon blamed the incessant attacks on former Governor Udom Emmanuel who resorted to irregular demarcation of the boundaries of local government areas around oil-rich coastal communities under the pretext of addressing boundary disputes for peace.
But Mr Okon noted that the decision of the then governor brought more boundary crises, following the dislocation of some villages from oil bearing communities and ceded them to his Onna Local Government Area, which hitherto, was a non-oil bearing area.
He disclosed that the matter had been taken to court on the realisation that it was a ploy by the then government to link Onna Local Government Area to the Atlantic Ocean in order for it to benefit from the three percent contributions by oil companies to communities operating in the area as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.
According to Okon, “When former Governor Emmanuel explained that Akwa Ibom never had a map and that the reason for the boundary adjustments was to address issues and bring lasting peace to the state, little did we know that it was a joker to connect Onna to become a litoral local government, in order to enjoy the three percent derivation funds from the federal government.
“That is why we took the matter to court because the issue is part of the problems we are having with our Ekid neighbours who are cashing in on the boundary politics to take over our land at Ndito Eka Iba village in Ibeno East, which had been renamed Okoiyak Ekid, with a new village head installed after the forceful removal of the substantive village head through violence, as well as Ibeno indigenous people.”
The monarch pointed out that “it does not lie within the power of the state government to create local government areas. Before the purported re-mapping, the people of Eastern Obolo had taken the state government to court on the matter.
“The court stated very clearly that the state or House of Assembly has no right to entertain or do anything concerning the boundaries between one local government and another. 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 has no authority to carry out the mapping or re-mapping of any local government boundaries,” he stressed.
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; Nigeria Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, non-governmental organisations, corporate organisations and well meaning Nigerians to come to their aid.
In the same vein, Chief Ekprikpo Uro and wife, Patience solicited government’s intervention by beefing up security in the community 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 the people returning from fishing that our village is under attack”, Enyina stated.
His wife was also manhandled during the attack, saying she escaped with bruises to her sister’s place with only her night wear.
“I borrowed this clothes from my sister when I heard about this meeting”, calling for emergency measures from government 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 attempts by some aggressors from Ekid, especially one Aniedi, who alongside 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 community administration.
The youth leader, however, said the attack by their Ekid neighbours often resulted in frequent confrontations leading to loss of lives and properties. He warned of reprisal as their peaceful disposition is being misconstrued as weakness due to oil and gas investments by the federal and state governments.
He, therefore, called on the federal and state governments to wade in to avert carnage and disruption of oil production in Ibeno Local Government Area.
