By Ogenyi Ogenyi, Uyo
Ekid people in Eket and Esit Local Councils of Akwa Ibom have frowned at the illegal occupation of their ancestral land, “Stubb’s Creek Forest” by BUA Petrochemical Refinery Ltd.
Ekid Peoples Union(EPU), the apex sociocultural organization for Ekid people, in a press conference at the weekend in Eket said the state government was wrong to have allocated the land to BUA without proper negotiations with them.
The President-General of the union, Dr. Samuel Udonsak said the Ekid people could be forced to rise up against the governnment if it fails to recognize that “Akoiyak” otherwise known as the Stubb’s Creek Forest is in Ekid land and not Ibeno.
“We have valid evidence and court judgements to backup our claims, we are not just claiming it. What the Ibeno people have about the land is mere magazines.” Udonsak said.
He called on BUA Petrochemical Refinery Limited to meet with the stakeholders of the host communities to address some nagging issues before commencement of operations.
“The manner our land was taken was wrong and oppressive. We would have gotten the compensation if the acquisition was for overriding public interest and for the development of the community.
“In the first place the acquisition is not for overriding interest. Government and BUA have to do the needful, they need to sit with the owners of the land and do the needful. What happens to our flora and fauna?” He queried
Secretary General of EPU, Dan Abia, a lawyer and former National Assembly member admitted that the state government had earlier attempted to compensate them for their land, adding that that was not what Ekid people want.
“All they were asking for was for the state government to follow the prescriptions of the law for land acquisition and for us to sit on a dialogue table with the investing company to spell out terms and conditions especially on the preservations of our flora and fauna.” Abia said.
He expressed disappointment over what he described as “lots of illegal acquisition in the Stubb Creeks of our forest reserves” noting that Ekid union will no longer allow such to continue under the guise that all lands belong to government.
He observed that Akwa Ibom State government has in the first place flouted its ordinance by giving out a forest reserve to a company to build a permanent structure.
“That place is a Forest Reserve established by ordinance and you have no right to put up a permanent structure only rights of fishing, tapping palm wine, even the government has violated the law it put in place.
“We have a lot of illegal acquisition going on the stubb creeks of the forest reserves. Sometimes I hear people say government land, there is nothing like government land rather lands are vested on the governor and there is a process of acquisition. Government can only acquire land for one purpose according to section 44 of the Constitution and section 22 of the Land Use Act which is for overriding public interest.
“It is wrong for government to acquire a public land, convert it to a private land and give it to a private individual. That’s not for overriding public interest. How can a private company (BUA) come into a community without sitting down with the owners of the land?
“We sat down one day and received a memo from state government that they will pay compensation to us, compensation for what? The prescription of the law is that you give us notice of your intention to acquire and state the purpose of the acquisition and that purpose has to be overriding, then upon acquisition you give us another notice of acquisition by gazetting, thirdly you pay adequate and prompt compensation, fourthly, you allow us access to the court if we disagree with the first three prescriptions.
“These were not done, government just sat down issued Certificates of Occupancies to private company whose only purpose is to make money, there is no proof that government has any percentage share in BUA company. This is a clear case of modern day slavery and robbery. We are in court presently and cannot allow that to happen.” Abia explained.
