Stakeholders from minority Ijaw and Obolo ethnic nationalities in the oil-rich Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom have protested incessant attacks, killings and destruction of properties by the neihbouring Eket and Esit Eket Local Government Areas.
Staging a peaceful protest and armed with placards of varying inscriptions, the protesters lamented that the local and international investors in oil and gas resources including Chinese firms in the area “are facing serious threat to their businesses, which, if not addressed, could consider relocation with attendant job losses to local residents.”
They recalled that Ibeno, host to the defunct Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), at the Qua Iboe Terminal (QIT), now Seplat Energy Producing Unlimited (SEPNU), and other allied oil servicing firms, had been subjected to frequent attacks on February 26, 2024, November 8, 2024 December 24, 2024 and February 10, 2025.
The affected communities, according to them, included Iwuochang, Ndito Eka Iba, and Inua Eyet Ikot 11, which had suffered attacks twice by mercenaries allegedly sponsored by the Ekid People’s Union (EPU), led by the President-General, Dr. Samuel Udonsak.
Addressing the forum after the protest, Chief Okon Udofia Okon, Secretary of the Ibeno Clan Council and Capt. Okpolo Emmanuel, President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Ibeno LGA chapter, regretted the inability of governments, especially the Umo Eno – led administration in the state, to provide security to local residents of oil communities.
“Government is not bothered about security in oil communities that produce resources that generate revenues to run Nigerian states. They allow Eket and Esit Eket to suppress and suffocate us because we choose to be peace-loving because of too many investors coming to do oil and gas businesses in our domain.
“The aggressors from Eket and Esit Eket are mistaking our silence for weakness because we know that if we react, the negative multiplier effects would be too much for the state and Nigeria because it will tell so much on the oil and gas infrastructure and job losses,” Chief Okon noted.
At the height of the crisis, he recalled that Governor Umo Eno had visited the area and sued for peace, urging both parties to cease hostilities as the case in dispute – ownership of the Stubb Creek Forest acquired by BUA Group for the ongoing refinery project, was still pending in court.
Okon wondered why their Ekid neighbours were still fomenting violence with threat to exterminate Ibeno people from their ancestral land because of the oil resources.
Similarly, Capt. Okpolo, the IYC Youths’ Leader, warned of heavy reprisal that would be more devastating, if continued to push, wondering why a sovereign local government area created and gazetted by the Federal Government could be issued a quit notice from their homes by other LGAs, recalling that the Dr. Udonsak-led EPU, had issued the “quit notice” last month after their annual congres, with a follow-up attacks subsequently.
Despite various Police check points along the major link road, the protesters wondered why such attacks, killings and destruction of properties against Ibeno people continue to remain a recurrent decimal.
The communique reads: “It’s on record that the attack on Iwuochang community, Ibeno LGA on on 25 February, 2024, by the Eket people and subsequent attacks at Inua Eyet Ikot 11, on 8 November, 2024, another at Ndito Eka Iba village on December 24, 2024. In January 2025, Eket people, after their annual congress, issued a press statement threatening to forcefully vacate Ibeno people in their ancestral land.
“As a follow up to their threat, Eket people have continually sponsored attacks against Ibeno communities, the most recent being the fourth in the series of attacks on Inua Eyet Ikot 11 community on February 10, 2025.’’
Reported by Ini Ekponta
