By Ekid Nation
The attention of the Ekid Nation has been drawn to a poorly veiled propaganda piece issued by an organization masquerading itself as Ngba Ndiak Obolo, published under the guise of a “statutory commendation” to the Akwa Ibom State Government on the subject of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve.
We consider the said publication not only intellectually dishonest but historically fraudulent, politically desperate, and deliberately provocative.
First, it must be clearly stated that no amount of verbose sophistry can rewrite history. Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve is ancestral Ekid land, a fact rooted in pre-colonial occupation, validated by colonial administrative records, and acknowledged by post-colonial government actions, including formal compensation paid to Ekid communities by the Akwa Ibom State Government in 1998 for land acquisitions within the Stubbs Creek axis. Documents don’t lie.
Governments do not compensate strangers for land they do not own.
The attempt by Ngba Ndiak Obolo to portray Ekid as an “entity lacking any legitimate ancestral or hereditary title” is therefore not only false but laughable.
Ekid settlements, shrines, fishing routes, and burial grounds predate the political invention of Eastern Obolo as a Local Government Area. Administrative convenience cannot extinguish ancestral ownership, and no executive fiat can nullify history.
Equally disturbing is the reckless effort to criminalize legitimate Ekid advocacy by calling for the arrest of Dr Samuel Udonsak, a respected voice of Ekid Nation, on the struggle. This is a classic diversionary tactic: when facts fail, intimidation is deployed.
Let it be known that demanding justice, opposing land dispossession, and resisting state-enabled expropriation are not crimes in any democracy.
Ekid youths and leaders did not manufacture this crisis; they are responding to it.
The statement’s praise of the State Government for “clarifying de jure and de facto status” is premature and self-serving. Legal ownership of land is not settled by press releases or selective interpretations but by evidence, history, and due judicial process.
Ekid will not be coerced into silence by orchestrated narratives designed to legitimize dispossession after the fact.
It is also ironic, and instructive, that the same Eastern Obolo voices applauding the state today are simultaneously lamenting marginalization, underdevelopment, and neglect. One cannot celebrate a system as just when it suits territorial ambition and condemn it as unjust when appointments are in question.
Justice is not à la carte. Let it be firmly stated: Ekid Nation has no quarrel with the Obolo people as neighbors.
Our grievance is with institutionalized land graft, historical revisionism, and the weaponization of government against indigenous ownership. Ekid does not seek displacement of any community; we seek recognition of truth, respect for ancestral rights, and equitable dialogue.
We therefore call on:
The Akwa Ibom State Government to halt all actions capable of prejudicing the ownership dispute pending transparent, inclusive engagement.
Relevant authorities to desist from the criminalization of civic advocacy.
The general public to reject attempts to manufacture consent through misinformation.
Ekid land is not up for propaganda barter.
Truth anchored on facts can never be buried by intimidation and political mechanization. Truth does not expire.
Ekid Nation remains resolute.
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